Michelle Penn – augury
inside stairwells girls flock kicking off their shoes school uniforms morph to plastic plumage beak-masks elastic bird-feet discarded in a heap (undressed triangles of orange felt muted) skin strafes cement words pass (secret rules piling up like eggshells) their calls echo off the steps they take each other’s soundings (strokes of kind fury) learn to […]
Alan Semerdjian – The Good Light
The Good Light Our love cupped like water in palms, we search for the day’s first words. Paree looys, I whisper to my son, and then good light, the cart that follows the mare over hillside rake. In this early country of understanding, he thinks of what it means to be right first, and the […]
Karoline Schaufler – Pearls on a Branch
Pearls on a Branch I grew up moving in small forward bursts like an ornate squid. Rubbing my head on rough walls in an attempt to whittle it aerodynamic. Appearing to occasionally burble a word that means “equal,” or “inferior,” or “not me.” A broken string of puckered pearls in my left hand at all […]
Cliff Saunders – The Small Country
The Small Country We are pleased to announce that of course we follow the sun into its sea of remembrance. These days, we scale the depths of our presidents’ gardens but not our neighborhoods. Look how far we’ve wandered off while violent playthings grow. We are a small country with upside-down trees. All in all, […]
kerry rawlinson – Ghazal for Running Away from the Circus
Ghazal for Running Away from the Circus When truth rejects speech, flee. The sentence for mute belief is steep. Risk is highwires without nets, just like belief. It’s a bestiary with no feeding tent; a lament of clowns; a sham. I’m a flying trapeze of belief. The circus breaks you. Makes you ache to see […]
