Louie Leyson – Love Poem: Lucifer

Love Poem: Lucifer after Donika Kelly Nothing approaches a fall like me. It isn’t the body but the shout that stays. I came down with wet eyes, wild hair, odd wings. Muted the way windows mute laughter during rain. I flew backwards from that glimpse into how awful goodness is. What spade should now tend […]

Clint Margrave – Syllabics

Syllabics A bird crashed into the gym window while I was on the Stairmaster looking out over an empty soccer field and listening to a boring poetry podcast about syllabics. Window, I thought, that’s two syllables. And bird, poor bird, one. They say that sometimes when this happens a bird will go unconscious and survive, […]

Rebecca Faulkner – Empty Nest

Empty Nest My fault —waking too early, worrying I am bad             for the garden, soil vindictive as a Gothic stepmother. Bad for the pantry, Pyrex taunting me             idle & lidless. Woodlice scissor my spine as chores pile up. Every window in the attic demands             to be opened. Branches of the plum tree must be pruned […]

Alan Britt – Giraffe-Spotted Junonia Shell

Giraffe-Spotted Junonia Shell Bottle caps like empty shotgun shells—guardian angel descends with marble Venus thighs— freight train drops cargo in Des Moines & Missoula— Flytrap eyelashes to challenge Mardi Gras snags me in the subway—says, Why you running . . . slide your Metro Card through my slot . . . right here . . […]

Mayookh Barua – A Car and a Teacup

A Car and a Teacup A sibling is a strange animal. Enchanting and disconcerting. The only object close to the womb of a home. Yet a far away archipelago revealing their scattered parts with time. My brother is the keeper of all my secrets and the lost librarian. He is also my father’s pectorals as […]