Arthur Vogelsang – Envoy
Envoy Raised a level far beyond my abilities I have to meet an African king Of a decently powerful country tomorrow. Just time to eat, sleep, and dress— No time to shop for him. I’ll be alone on the small swift plane Except for my guard, a bed, and my gift For the king. I […]
Lynne Thompson – They
They I was a married woman, silent as a stone in water but not too old to dream of the flaring of my womb, the rigid of my jaw bone. ♒︎ How can I explain to you: my skin, leather black with time, sashayed through a room of daggers. Hard to picture those sweet boys, […]
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 […]
