Robert Castagna Is surrounded by books of poetry.He looks surrealsitting under a chalkboardof unsolved formulas.A fingernail scratchedacross the surfacedoes not disturb him.Did he see Medusa?If only through a slight crackin an otherwise unopened eye?Even so, his countenance is calm.When he caught her eyehe did not cower.Like a man facing the firing squadhe tricked the mindby …

By El Engerman you match your inhales to mine as i do yourswe exhale together, warming the frigid airwaning clouds of stale smoke drift lazily overhead joined by the ghosts leaving our mouths and nosesi press my ear to your chest, to your lungssecretly i test you, in sync for a minutethen i fill my …

By Olivia Steen Under the weeping willow tree The place to weep and wallow Listening to people’s secrets and uncertaintyIn silence between our flowing leavesUnder the weeping willow tree The place for no good deeds and sorrowListening to people’s sins and greedLife is nothing more than what is not guaranteedUnder the weeping willow tree The …

Brian Egan I am death But you needn’t fear me For I am only rest I am life But you needn’t fear me For I am only yesterday Today, and the next

By Marc When I get home I am rightwith my thingsa delicate anddilapidated war zoneof weathered beatingsdust colony proceedings creaks &floor squeaksthat batter &hum to the drums of feetweeds &vines of arterial emerald that twist andshout their way up the concrete &tinge with such severity &honesty thatthey were best left in solitudeour driveway paralellaligned inperfection …

By K. R. Taylor that girl was horrible and nasty and god awfully ugly she let him hold her hand, let him tell her she was beautiful, then went home and scrubbed him off until she could paint the mirror with her bloodshe ruined her mother’s recipe books by covering ingredients with black inkand spent …

Jonathan Bennett Bonilla We will destroy language to build it backagainwith WATERnot with EARTH/STONEall is changeable ≈ all is changing ≈ WATER is fluidWATER ever changespatterned and patternable moldable inconstant constant Tidalectics

By Paul Melkonian our pain defines usour silhouette of feelingalways there to see always there to seethe sun brings a new day forthforever hopeful forever hopefulin spite of realitywe stagger onward we stagger onwardzombies but with beating heartsdon’t know any better don’t know any betterconsidering all of itwe might as well live

By Joseph Nardoni Whose woods these wereI used to know, trees standing naked in the snow slantingtowards the lacy, ice-boned lake—he used to live in the village below,behind fine pickets that sifted snow and hardwood clapboardswith cut-out window double gaslight glow,cousin of Curmudgeon I’d meetto mend dumb walls with every spring.And perhaps it’s true to …

By Annah Phen Walk on trails of plenty,They cannot be defined by greed,For each place has a role,All played inside of me,A journey. I fly the migrated path,Of those who seek warmth. Each has a resting nest,Leaves and twigs transform,Into a home. Life appears bigger,Then just a field of grass,Flowers cheer for greener,Soil to make …

By K. R. Taylor i don’t know what’s wrong with me / but i do know my toothpaste isn’t quite empty / but i can’t get any of it out / and it makes me so mad / because i know there’s more / there is more / maybe if i squeeze it a different …

By Susan A. Hutchinson The scar above your knee Was it that Summer on Nantucket when you were 18? And those white nylon cord bracelets, woven in a way that eclipsed the braid Then burned at the cut ends as clasp, closure All the rage, they said You succumbed, new bearer of the novelty An …

By Marc At the turn of dawn, my form and feeling still quiet and yearning, I left my shoes behind and my soles marked the dirt and twigs where the path lay naked. Beyond each treelined opening the morning glow seized and swathed every basking window, and my skin welcomed the ephemeral touch and I …

By Conor Burrell I get up and drag myself to my mirror,Who is it that I see?I see a shadow with regrets,Yet he is proud of who he has grown to be.Stepping from the shadows into the lightI wonder if my life is a candleBurning on borrowed time.I am ever shaping, ever formingAlways an opportunity …

By Conor Burrell You were young. A good person who did some shitty things.You were never A bad person.You were an asshole when you were youngerAnd You grew up.You changed.Don’t carry that cross for the rest of your life.

By Matthew Tighe The most painful taste of reality is truthTruth in knowing it has ended entirelyI watched many a person exit my lifeThere is so much I would say to themTo youI still love those who left my lifeeven if they left in hatredHow could I hate someone I loved once before?not a day …

Brian Egan There was a phantom It walked through the forest at night It took the form of a rotted carcass Insides hollow, rotted down to bone at nightfall it walks It’s movement rigid, like a puppet strung along by a puppeteer with arthritic hands Step by step, its flesh barely there anymore yet somehow …

Jonathan Bennett Bonilla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . …

Lucas Vaudo

Raë Silva January 13, 1932 – November 2, 1998dear grandmother, my nonni did your mother brush your long hair?did she dress you up in the nicest outfitand pearlsfor church?did she protect your innocenceand child-like wonder?did she know that you, too,would have demons?my sweet rosalie foye,did your nonni tie up your shoesand take you on long …

By Olivia Steen We are nighttime friends May not know each other’s favorite colorWe know where one another’s body starts and where it ends Our families will never know who we are together But we know one another’s most vulnerable spots Start with the bottoms and then the tops We cover our eyes and our …

By El Engerman i drive differently when i’m alone recklesslyi stop shorter and closeri swerve and speedhigh on the way it feels to cross yellow linesi imagine a crash vividlyi can hear it, loud and violent my arms and legs shatteredlaying on the pavement and glassi’m sprawled out painfullycrumpled metal, twisting skywardacrid body smoke and …

Katelynn Sullivan Fitting in a chair Where they speak their share Stare at the wall Fall away Day starts to wane Strain to keep awake Make me want to listen Glisten what’s to come From the tick tock of the clock Block in my mind Find my thoughts Caught daydreaming while sitting

By K. R. Taylor if i am to die a bloody death or a porcelain oneand i am met with blinding bleached gatesthere better be enough tears to fill the dried out riversfrom below the bridges i once burned the tears better be from god himself every single fiber of his being ought to trembleuntil …

By Layla Walton am I too broken to be fixed?on the outside I smileand nod alongsay the right things at theright time so everyonewill move alongbut the inside has been cracked and I thought I had finally put itback together therapy and medslike lines of glue shutting thedarkness out for goodI don’t know how and …

Robert Castagna I’m feeling nostalgic for nostalgiaif you know what I mean—like old bicycles and Stephen Shore.Today we’re supposed to ignore,these feelingsand grapple with the pain,put away old photographs,study history,curse our fathersHell! He was never around anyway.So what draws me therelike worn-out recordsskipping over so much time?Is it the smiles I’m looking foror that off-hand …

By Layla Walton you asked me if I believed insoulmates and I told you thatI door that at least I want toI want to believe that there isone person out there thatcompletes you thatmakes you feel fullyou asked me if I believe insoulmates and I told youthat I door at least I want tothen you …

By Kelly Keough Oh, sea of life! I swim a secret deep Tattooed in ink upon my mermaid skin. It shields both truth and a lie that still weeps Whilst mirrored in my human star fish fins.  Gaze at my bubbles with pure heart that bears The drowning sounds of my beauty song sought. Then …

By Annah Phen (Children’s rhyme)Black sheep, Black sheep,Are you alone?With all the white sheep,Where do you call home?Black Sheep, Black sheep,Your Bah is so low.Is it that your different,Or did you catch a cold?Black Sheep, Black sheep,Please do not weep.No matter your color,You’re still a sheep.

By Jared Waugh Years ago,It seemed easy toIgnore your off-hand commentsAnd mentally cut into the skin over my heartTo not rock the boat andlet it pass smoothly through choppy waters.Maybe it was because then We had years.Now we have monthsNot yet weeksDays, hoursMinutesseconds.It already feels too late.No good to give any measure of time to despair.You …

By Lizzy Haynes Hey, did you hear what that girl over there has been saying?She told me that her ex did things to her when they were together Things that she didn’t consent to.I don’t know, though.Her ex seems like a nice guy!And the thing about that girl is…She’s a pushover. I bet she tried …

By Chris Saar The newborn babe has gained its sightThe soldier draws his bladesThe cloaked fellow hunts their preyTwo houses cause each other shameAll watched by the pale green earthAs the cycles continueThe child endures its first ever plightSwords bathe for a crimson shadeHe found it! Where the target staysFell thoughts haunt the wealthy namesAll …

By Lizzy Haynes People say you didn’t know what you were doing.That you knew you were crossing a line, but didn’t know how bigThat you feel shitty about all thisThat you still love meThat you’ve “learned your lesson”. How could you not know?You’re a big boy now, twenty-fucking- two!How could you not understand that when …

By David M. Kane My brain! Such pain!Which drives me insane!Unleashing my reigns as if I was untamed!It aches and echoes through dimensional planes!My cranium cries as if being slain!Am I to blame? Am I to blame!On what terms do I bring great shame?How have I enraged Hell’s greatest dame?If her heart pounds like my …

By Matthew Tighe You were a painful fireI was consumed by your flameBut maybe that was my first mistakenot feeling love before.I turned a blade on myselfto rip out my heartand gift it to youI watched you eat it before my eyes.You drive me to the brink of deathI hate you deeplyDid you love me …

By Katelynn Sullivan Prick Stab Inject Repeat living hell becomes a steady beat Prick Stab Inject Repeat take too much; i’m scared to sleep Prick Stab Inject Repeat some days i can’t get to my feet Prick Stab Inject Repeat i dare not share the scars i keep

By El Engerman The sun rises over piles of dirty clothesHorrid things hide beneath, rotting awayDays stack on top of me as I decomposeYesterday’s to-dos have become today’sHorrid things hide beneath, rotting awayThe load of laundry in the washer haunts my mindYesterday’s to-dos have become today’sRun the cycle again, I’ll remember this timeThe load of …

By Annah Phen “My song is on!Save my seat!”Feel the pattern.Hold the beat.Let your limbs loose,Allow the music flow,Embrace your partner, Never let them go.Sweat from the brow,Spinning in time, With Lyrical sound,There’s a twisted lie.Some symphonies play,Truth in parts.With that we sway,Feet hitting the marks. (Can be read top down or bottom up)

By Lizzy Haynes So many things reminded me of youThe bed where it all happened The gifts you gave meI thought I would never move onThe thing isI can get a new bedI can get rid of those gifts Things can be beautiful again And even if it takes a whileI won’t stop until I …

By Brianna Correy Does the slow pace in my step, as I glance awkwardly around the room, Make you uncomfortable? or is it the way I open and close my mouth, To release a nervous breath of air?Does my short, clumsy, stutter,Irritate you any more than it does me? or does frequent shaking of my …

By Olivia Steen Her fingers have started to twist Pretty, fragile hands Breaking to rearrange in an uncomfortable order Slow torture Cut her hair, can’t brush it anymore Starfish hands So separate from one another That thumb Cannot be pointer finger’s neighbor anymore They have become strangers A painful separation, vacant space between Cannot grasp …

By Stephan Anstey As she entered the noisy, bustling factory floor of the textile mill, she already felt the exhaustion creeping up on her. After nearly a year working there, leaving her family’s farm in Maine, the work was almost as hard as farm work, and the hours were nearly as long, but the exhaustion… …

Lexi Balevre Perry The gentle light in the morningAnd the heat reflecting off the chillsClasp on to the past. The grass turns coldWhen the sun goes down. The creatures singWhen the heads turn around. I am a different person in the momentsWhen everybody is busyMaking other plans. It’s two different worldsAnd my feet can’t touch …

By k. r. taylor i am trying to heal / i mean i am still existing when i don’t want to be / i wrote a letter to you and burned it / i changed my coffee order to be less bitter / i called my mom to tell her i loved her / i …

By k.r. taylor when time takes its toll, when i’m finally permitted to exhale and never inhale again, send this tired flesh to save another. take whatever is left of my body and set it up in flames. i’ve been burning for years– let this bonfire finally be the last. do what you need with …

By Samantha Weisberg Dirt cakes underneath your toenails. You have been running rampant through the forest, tripping carelessly over the Great Mother’s roots. Earth-spear in hand, you attempt to penetrate the eternal stag, only to have broken your weapon in two different places. You appear undomesticated: a fox pelt and head of disorganized curls, yet …

By Samantha Weisberg A ripe plum ripped down the middle by knobby fingers. Pit in your half— absent space in mine. Stringy ochre fades into ruby threads, still reaching for the heart. Sinewy, extended, and reaching and then the two halves become strangers.

By Anthony N.N.E. Carvalho Sinking down, I fall into the Abyss— Quiet and insignificant I am in this Tenebris, just like the life I lived. Inside this deep void, I am so Far from the troubles of this World, and in this space, I Feel happy, or some type Of it. If the meaning of …

By Bridget Landers We can be the calm before the storm The lull of a false sense of security The feeling of loneliness in a crowded room And overcrowded in the empty ones We can be the good, the bad, and the ugly The sad, the happy, and the beautiful Or all at once, never …

By Stephan Anstey Hugh Cummiskey strode confidently down the road, not far from the Middlesex Canal leading a group of thirty strong Irishmen from Charlestown. They were ready to make their mark on this new land. He had spoken to a man named Boot about a job in East Chelmsford, where some dirty monied shoneens …

By k.r. taylor eyes meet me often but hardly ever meet my own they seer into expressions of my chest or slight outwardness of my hips anywhere but my eyes despite their blue hued significance lips against mine before hands ever intertwined how humiliating to be devoured before truly admired my skin is soft, my …

By Anthony N.N.E. Carvalho The Dreamer sleeps, the ceiling creaks, Disturbing thoughts arise from his keeps. How can such a thought enter the mind? Isn’t he kind? He is confined in a prison so maligned. In his mind, another layer is rind. A gaunt room, a rage in bloom, They assume he is without boon. …

By C.S. Scarrow Don’t read this till the day before it’s due, Wait til the day It’s due This poem is about Something That poison ivy that slithers its Way inside your mind And it sits there Unattainable, And the only way to distract Yourself Is to itch every other part of Your body As …

By Olivia Steen Eenie, meenie, miney, moe In today’s society you’re either a prude or a hoe How much of your body are you willing to show Post it out so the world will know Retouch yourself, filter out the flaws Unrecognizable- a perfect picture Then look in the mirror Does that secure the insecurities …

By Dana Shahar Meyer A muted muse is useless, like a school bus in the summertime, like an extra syllable in a phrase rhyme. But still, my muse, she churns beneath the surface, my throat burns as she yearns to resurface, but she can’t discern if it would service my heavy soul, or just disservice …

By Lexi Balevre Perry Flesh of the finer fruitsOf pomegranates grapes, and figsIn the delicacies of lustIt is in the taste. Flourished petals of lilacsOf lavender and lupineAs we blossom to springIt is in the smell. Shadows of sunset and sunriseYour naked silhouette at midnightIn the heat of summerWe ignite in violent twilight But just …

By Dana Shahar Meyer My hands brush my sides as my arms swing forward and backward as I amble down the hallway. The linoleum smiles up at me, its shining surface only slightly scuffed from shuffling shoes traversing it the day through. Right then, only my shoes quietly clip and echo because the corridor is …

By Dody James I strip my skin and fat from my body and nail it to your wall like a tapestry. We are watching the blood pool underneath it when you say “that’s so poetic.” So I shrug my muscle tissue off and drape them over your windows like silk curtains. We are watching the …

By C.S. Scarrow I only bring truth and happiness when faith is no longer part of my existence. what am I? I am not the head of a religious man but the heart of one. I am not a living entity but the conception that drives one. what am I? I place needles in your …

By Dody James There is a crookedness in vulnerability and, by design, it flowers anxiety. There are doorways that lead to nowhere and drop off into nothingness. Your off-key ukulele echoes off the caverns And feels harsh and sweet against your skin. There are dead things in quiet corners that have loved a millennium longer …

By Ariadna Muñoz God crawls to me this way: On knees, In writhing agony, Imploring me to smother the misery. The nuns left me alone to shelter el Santísimo. Their virgin tongues tempt me: Talk to him. He hears you. The vessel is vulnerable. He cannot be left alone. The devil is hunting him in …

By Amelia Rubin my professor says “having a personality is just having a mask,” because we all mold and chip away at parts of ourselves. we conform to other people sat in the room. loud and thundering to match their style or calm and collected in the wake of someone else’s storms. she says we …

By Robert Castagna I grew up against a backdrop of dissipating smoke and chemical dirt along the riverbed. The corporation closed making a movie set of isolated ghost towns. My mother has a similar story about a factory where her father worked and so generation after generation ghost worlds are created. While I sleep— ghost …

By Claudio Sanchez I, head of cloud, Mind thunders distractions abstract curious sounds within and No clear’s to be had. Landscapes blurred where Colors melt between selves All contents of consciousness fall dripping on stucco and tile distinctness leaving the home Lines resigning now Form need not apply Logic left no impression on this portrait …

By Brian Egan He is every looming shadow On a long empty street The echoing steps behind you of an unseen somebody’s feet He’s the gnarled plant And it’s grasping vine The gentle arctic breath Whispering up your spine He is the shifting form In a swirling fog The glowing eyes Of a stalking feral …

By Tariq Brathwaite What is this old thing Laying on my front desk as if it was a king on a throne? It’s not a crown nor a snapback. Placing my hands on its visor, The visor felt like cardboard, But its skin felt soft as if I was spreading my blanket across my bed, …

By Robert Castagna “I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.” ––Henry David Thoreau It was not Walden but on a ridge with other authors where I found him. The roots of trees made veins in the earth varicose and bulging. A trail of wandering musings about nature. I stood there looking …

By C.S. Scarrow My body is a long grass field I want distractions from the plainness Maybe if I add a hill or two I can finally become a work of art Maybe a gray patch here and there With a little pond sprinkled around And a mountain pinched out of the ground With shades …

(1938-2023) By Robert Castagna You’re an insomniac for the living. Still walking the aisles of the atheneum gently pointing a finger to your old books. I thumb the pages of darkened streets where you had written. Your mind holding the hand of a clairvoyant. Her cards face down on the table while I look through …

By Donna Tarrant Tide turns Waves crisscrossing While sand is swept away And the ocean reflects sundown’s Red clouds

By Susan Hutchinson I. Old Town, New Mexico Riddle a small Southwest town with sin and shame Scatter remnants of anger, abuse, and addiction The Seasoning a bitter aftertaste Served on the souls of young men, wives, and children Once innocent This is Our story To reckon with As we unveil the past Our sin …

By Dominic Paoletti The mask suppresses the monster. I pass through each day a stranger in my own skin. I see you, I’ll smile, and all the while, I can’t but defile, Truth… Lies facing inward, latch to my surroundings. What am I if not a chameleon, changing skins, to the whims of others? This …

By Dominic Paoletti feral senate mongrels barking for scraps speaking certain key words, for optics, for re-elections to fund another pointless war— brought to you by, Budweiser, Boeing and this crying wife holding a folded flag, how sad cause –oh fucking boy! a new pony toy, it’s the iPhone ‘who gives a shit’ I’ll buy …

By Razan Shahin In allusion, she lived inside boxes, filled with dim light. With locks and boards decorated with more keys and chains than the eyes could count, She wears herself like a dress feigning the feeling of freedom and confused she dances from path to path swaying on the earth she belongs to There …

By Matthew Tighe I was making my way down a path covered in leaves The sun was blocked by the thickly wooded trees. It took me mere seconds to smell the food, the aroma of crab meat cooking over a crackling fire, The smell wafted along the roadside where I walked. My empty belly began …

By Robert Castagna History and nature overlay like ancient Rome buried beneath modern day cathedrals and convenient stores Homes that once had lives that burned deep with passion become today’s museum tour that can’t be touched Meanwhile old spirits haunt today’s walking paths the battle fields wrestling with their guilty concerns And the earth soft …

By Robert Castagna In Memory of Lorrie this bird bath lies frozen in the blizzard. Her last name covered by the snow, the water frozen in the cold; the birds gone to warmer weather. In Memory of Lorrie this bike rack sits empty, a lonely sculpture against the white- woolly season, not allowing for excursions. …

By Aamer Farttoosi The most beautiful thing is to disturb the range, And others – think of you as the appeal, Some think of you; the echo. The most beautiful thing is to be the proof, Of light and darkness Beautiful sudden sparrows Within you lie the last of the words and the first of …

By Aamar Farttoosi He knew the others, So, he threw his stones over them and turned Carrying the jubilee of the day And the years that are jogging, the virginity of the fetus. His face at a standstill by the bizarre border Bend over it and light up; Where he does not meet anyone else …

By Aamer Farttoosi We can, now, ask how we met, We can, now, spell the way back, Together we can have whipping wings, And we say: the shores are abandoned, And sailing News about a wreck. Now we can bend and say, “We’re done!”

By Aamar Farttoosi Descending between the oars and among the rocks Aimlessly meeting the lost In thousand-eared bridal jars In the whispers of budded trees Announcing the resurrection of the meanest tunes The revival of our weddings, harbors and singers – Announcing the resurrection of blue slopping seas.

By Mackenzie Taylor you have a great knack for giving me an opportunity to speak, but shoving your dental probes in my mouth, so I just stop trying. maybe it’s just for pleasantry, all of this sweet talk, to seem like you’re one of the nice dentists. “you really should’ve flossed more,” you tell me …

By Mackenzie Taylor I reek of tar-stained blankets permeated by alcohol. riddled with wasted potential shattered picture frames and meaningless repeated love letters. I have become a culmination of wasted pieces everyone has left behind with me abandoning the parts of themselves they do not want anymore. abandoning me, a part of themselves they do …

By Mackenzie Taylor your wounds, the consequence of subjecting my kindness to your abuse, are only for you to tend- but here I am, gently placing bandaids on the broken skin on your hands. all because you wanted to juggle shards of my bones. using my own remedies to help you rid the itch of …

By Mackenzie Taylor does the floor still creek below your little feet by the bedroom window facing the street? do you know all of the places to hide in that house or the places to run to outside? can I show you how to escape? did they rip up the stained carpet? I still smell …

by Razan Shahin In your presence, I learned how to love In your absence, how to write poetry You sing inside my heart So quiet, no one can hear But in the silence I feel you And that feeling Becomes this art.

by Razan Shahin (An imitation poem) I wish I wrote the way I thought Obsessively; mindlessly and sometimes not at all I’d write until the sound of my words make your ears fall off I’d write myself into tears; a nervous breakdown filled with no breaths Pages spiraling into the depths of absolute nothingness And …

by Razan Shahin (An abecedarius for a past lover) A piece of you will always reside in me, balancing me out, countless times I’ve found myself digging up phrases, eating up your actions, feigning them as my own. God only knows who I am. Homes became houses. Ignorance has stolen them just as I knew …

By Saneidaliz Melendez You drive me nuts with the nagging. Always wanting more and more and more. You see that I’m trying But tell me your expectations are not being met. I care so much about you So you know that I’ll keep trying. Why do you always force things upon me? Things like activities …

By Cort LaCasse Only we in shallow grave will know When comes first, naught but snow, We find ourselves, on beggar’s ground See the circle, but do not come ‘round He lies waiting, not for you, but me Upon a promise kept, from a malevolent dream When those who’ve vacated have truly forgotten When we …

By Cort LaCasse God forbid i take the wrong plate, And have to justify… The space i’ve filled The air i’ve breathed and all the time that i have spent If im to assume the words being spoken, are directed at me and if i’m wrong, i cannot go along. for existence becomes not more …

By Cort LaCasse When I find myself often wondering, I’m stopped by the thought of something new, I choose to walk in solidarity, over the chance it goes askew That does not stop me from wanting; in fact, I want all the same But the choice is ever so daunting. To choose by whom I’ll …

By Nora McClellan The language of flowers I’ve loved and lost and loved again Through it all, my bleeding heart Stays evergreen — passionate and on my sleeve My first crush was a lilac— Sweet, hopeful, and fading with the seasons. Then she came along. I told myself She was a daisy, The flower of …

By Gwen Morris they are home to me and always will be ol cherry vanilla candle flames lick up my palms, and rake warm scores down my cheeks the tears flow all the sweeter through their brandings like scrapbooks of our summers in salisbury timeless tale; friends to lovers to just friends coming home to …

By Gwen Morris i think the hardest part about coming to terms with suicidality in the midst of “recovery” is that sure-it might be a learned product of your years of trauma, nuts, bolts, and brain waves, ricocheting and burrowing into the sensitive parts of your lobes; numbing and chilling. and you can understand the …

By Robert Ringuette this is how they try to cope do not begin to sigh see the truth behind their reddened eyes look at them without hope remember they are looking for a fix they are strung out they are strummed by a sickness played down in the distance an insistent violin a soul cracked …

By Robert Castagna I stood in front of a Winterberry tree alongside you. The red berries hung, fake like plastic, with their ruddy stems, thousands of them, like Christmas tree decorations. There were no leaves, just bare branches, some of which were sawed off and gone. The light was bright and the air winter cold, …

By Robert Castagna In a place I walk now and once walked years since, memories remain in a house located in a room that echo the words I spoke some time ago In that room lies a book, the pages dog eared and the margins marked with bold assertions So this is what it means! …

By Robert Castagna I walked the baseball field the chain link backstop a sentient guard, the only watchman against forgetfulness An All-Star in the minor league I was ten, hitting a grand slam to win the game running out the errors of the opposing team The cheers of the fans, how alive! as the grass …

By Elizabeth Lux Content warning: transphobia and child abuse. When I was born, you said you cried The son you wanted had been delivered to you That’s what the name you gave me means “God’s Chosen”; “God’s Favor”; “God’s Gift” But you didn’t get a son, did you? You got another daughter Even if you …

By Lexi Balevre There stands the wooden gateway bridge Engraved with reflective signatures By profound yellow rays Of the springtime sun And below his oakwood path Gentle strokes of forest green hues Blanket the subtle billows of this pond Lily pads bloom with fuchsia florals Complementary colors unite And water binds the seamless gradients In …

By Lexi Balevre Stripping the foundation Off thinning brittle walls How naked these apprehensive hands Peeling the moments one-by-one away Biting intrusive mental monsters Under my thumbnail A remedy for today’s cares A hard-to-read eye Parallels a glance towards mine The million-second silence The unknown aura-from-behind Chills channeling from throat to spine These everyday interactions …

By Lexi Balevre Headfirst Like an avalanche of rocks Spiky, thorny, abysmal As my mind attempts to sleep. Backslash The fiery ashpit Disintegration proclamation When I eternally lie awake. Full thrust The adrenaline runs The anguish, the pain, the proximity cycle Such natural disasters- these thoughts come to be Are all just figments within my …

By Jared Waugh It is the nighttime, the hour unknown and I am cold. Tossing and turning relentlessly, eventually I curl into a ball, into the most fetal position, attempting to keep out the cold, hoping that the warm memories associated with such a position will accomplish the task. It does not. Tossing and turning …

By Cayleigh Baillargeon Last night they lit the Zakim yellow and blue for Ukraine I’m sure that made a difference but I wondered how much it cost and why not turn off the lights and donate cash like the people asked. Their internet is out but the likes still roll in Who did we light …

By Cayleigh Baillargeon Last night they lit the Zakim yellow and blue for Ukraine I’m sure that made a difference but I wondered how much it cost and why not turn off the lights and donate cash like the people asked. Their internet is out but the likes still roll in Who did we light …

By Rebecca Waukau …and I’m drowning, sometimes so slowly I don’t even notice,             Other times with such ferocity, it’s as though the whole world is going down with me.             I’m choking on promises to myself that I’ll never fulfill,             Trying to swallow the emptiness, a minnow trying to swallow a whale.             …

Cayleigh Baillargeon Sex isn’t the only way Two become one. Have you considered Eating my rib?

By Cayleigh Baillargeon Last time I was in Vegas  was a month after the route 91 shooting.  There were more cops than people more crosses than tourists more guns than buffets. Meandering past the Mandalay,  I caught glimpses of the Statue of Liberty. I happened to be in New York the day Jam Master Jay …

Deklan O’Connor Is a maze, And its players merely mice. Soft and skittish mice, Nose every corner, every crack. Smack their nose they run away. Open hands and they walk around. Any plants in your poem? Mice like to hide Any cheese in your poem? Mice like to eat A fork in your road? A …

Deklan O’Connor What kind of movies you watch What other art you have in your home What other names you thought of Before picking the one that you did Where you go for walks What you think of while brushing your teeth Or making your breakfast Or looking back at me, without words What your …

Cayleigh Baillargeon Chief Chocorua’s curse killed colonizer’s cattle for decades after he conjured the Great Spirit but it is the surname of Sam Willey that we colloquially call to to explain a deep, primal knowledge that something is amiss. Willey wrote about the chief and the cattle then still chose to make his home at …

Kate McCadden That kind of love that sweeps up on the cool breeze of an early spring night Where the sky is clear and the horizon clings to last light. It steals breath from your lungs and then sneaks in, Sparkling lightning rides up from your toes- or did it start in your chest? That …

The Race People at the gym What might they be running towards? Only treadmills know. Life We are all unknown Variables in problems With no solution

By Nora McClellan I am the rain that falls from the sky No drop of water is exactly the same There’s one for every one Of my worries, fears, insecurities My obsessions and compulsions Each nightmare inside my mind Is its own raindrop And when they fall together They form a storm And that’s who …

By Nora McClellan My name is Otis C. Dickinson And I am the master of puppets I’ve got a special show  That I planned just for you No one else can see what I can do So step right up on my stage The star of the show must not be late And who shall …

by Richael Aniekwenagbu It’s always been your fault right from the jump. Signing up for this permanent full-time job.  Crowned yourself a mother who claimed to do her very best. But I ain’t seen you lift a finger ever since.  You swore in the Lord’s name as if you taught me everything. But Life stepped …

by Richael Aniekwenagbu A woman’s body is like a prey to the eyes of men  And a man’s male gaze is like a predation through the eyes of a woman So, be cautious with how her dress expresses herself  Because the “wrong” dress will attract a lascivious crowd But clothed with just a simple sweatpants …

Written by Taty Hernández and translated by Willy Ramirez La boca negra de la guerra no puede articular los nombres de los caídos en las casas, las calles,  espacios convertidos en trincheras porque allí  se adormece la esperanza de aquellos que no tuvieron una opción por la vida. Las noches de la guerra no tienen límites,  …

By Taty Hernandez, Translated by Willy Ramirez Hay luces en Bagdad, desde el blanco más pálido hasta el rojo más intenso.  Semejan una medianoche de nochevieja. Hay luces en Bagdad disparadas  desde el corazón más negro.  Gritan las milenarias piedras. Hay luces en Bagdad desbocadas  desde un corazón de hielo.  Y corren ríos rojos bañando …

By Fred Edson Lafortune, Translated by Jean Dany Joachim and Jonathan Bennett Bonilla tout batan pòt fèmen sou douvanjou depi lè w pati yon gwo pwela pandje sou fenèt mwen isit pa gen solèy pa gen bonjou isit pa gen lanmou pa gen je dou chak fwa lannuit pwente mwen panse avè w tout bagay …

By Taty Hernández and translated by Willy Ramirez Una planta para el amor   Una planta, para el momento en que el agua se derrama. No para la vida perpetua de los dioses,  no para el amor que alimentaron los duendes…   Una planta,  para el amor sin moral, no para el tirano creador del bien …

By Mark Desrosiers Precious Precious The Precious is ours   We took it from his finger After we bites it off The blood was warm and nasty Not like cold fish So juicy sweat!   The precious is ours The detestable golden ring Is light in our palm As our heart is at having it. …

by Rae Miller As I hold the long rubber handle in my right hand And use my left to clip in a new cartridge of blades, I am hit With the Weight Of everything it took To get me standing here On a Thursday morning, preparing to shave my sideburns and trim my beard – …

by Mark Desrosiers Four children playing hide an’ seek All fun to distract from dismay One is the seeker  He counts  One, two, three…  as he counts  Three run and dash about the manner One hides in the empty footlocker With a small layer of dust  And an unnoticed mouse dropping Four, five, six…  The …

by Deklan O’Connor (Response to Hannibal 2013) I am the mongoose you want Underneath the house Waiting for the snakes to slither by I eat the squirrels I eat the birds I eat the frogs and mice I am the mongoose you have Underneath your house Making friends with the snakes slithering by I fall …

by Rae Miller I loved the eagerness of the wash on the line in the summer morning, The legs of my linen trousers reaching upwards in the breeze – Prepared to run with me, as far as I asked them to. For they knew the freedom that came With the mildness of the weather, With …

by Deklan O’Connor (Inspired by Andrea Gibson’s “Maybe I Need You”) I pulled a fur off my sweater and screamed ‘That is so beautiful! It could kill a man’ And he probably could His claws are about yea big He was born right when my other died She was the same age as me and …

by Mackenzie Cartier The woman with no face Is stalking you She is waiting for you To make one mistake The man with no face Is stalking you He is waiting to devour The first living soul The woman with no face Is waiting for a meal She is waiting for you To make one …

by Mackenzie Cartier We danced in the rain     As it washed away our innocence We kissed each other     As if we would die tomorrow     We embraced tightly     As we molded into one another We laughed at ourselves in mirrors     As our fractured selves smiled back We yelled at each other …

By Hannah Deneve I’m surrounded by a sea of grey and white, Clothed with old turtle-neck sweaters and khaki pants. Well-worn leather bags at their feet,  Most likely possessing spearmints, pills, some spare change, old receipts.  Their essentials.  Thick-soled shoes, paired with tall tube socks. Thin-framed square spectacles adorn their faces,  Vision obscured from the …

By Hannah Deneve I spend so many countless hours with you As you are my greatest companion  Especially in these days of loneliness Where we are locked behind closed doors It is just you And I I will never grow tired of you You and your comforting presence Others envy such a bond Calling it …

By Hannah Deneve 6 months old. He brings life and energy to a home that so desperately needs it.  His youthful wonder and immense happiness is a welcome addition,  Bringing just a little sunshine to the darkness.  The world is his playground.  No need for toys.  No.  All he needs is a good rock,  And …

by Deklan O’Connor A = Mouse = Little tidy mouse Cleans his lovely little face Paws so little strong on spindled little arms You’re young, so slick and clean Neat in tidy warm little piles Slippery through the finger Adults so sticky fast they latch on Paws pass by all grippy grabby And jump with …

By Gina Guerra I reside in a gradient of magenta and royal blue where there exists a lavender. Where my passport reads United States of America and my tongue’s first memories are in Spanish. At the intersection of formal proofs and casual chiasmus. Near a feathered serpent who dons a cross. Teetering, tottering, nearing collapse.

by Gina Guerra Teetering, tottering, nearing collapse: Cannot make progress, try hard though I might- Time taunting me with its constant elapse. I keep on trying, despite my mishaps- Day turns to night as I write and I write, Teetering, tottering, nearing collapse. This time the words will just flow right? Perhaps. My blank laptop …

by Gina Guerra Some argue that sonnets are overdone One such person would not, of course, be I No: I believe that sonnets are quite fun Now I, of course, acknowledge the supply Exceeds the generational demand That Shakespeare bloke wrote hundred fifty four So many: far too many to withstand And so to study …

by Gina Guerra To giant humans Tezcatlipoca  becomes the prodigal half sun until  Quetzalcoatl plays extreme baseball and Tez retaliates by making the  jaguars rain supreme as he reigns supreme Meet your second sun: Quetzalcoatl Aztecs learn hasa diga eebowai Tez takes offence and transforms them into  monkeys. The Gods give up and try again. …

By Zachary Rahed Is it the end? Or just the beginning? A shaman sees an ominous convergence now emerging Into the starless sky, blessings are thrust  With uncensored curses, raging like blazing hearses  Prayers clasped there in a chauvinistic disguise The disciples drop to their knees, waiting Awaiting the sunrise, that fiery beacon For the …

by Zachary Rahed Vulnerable branches snap beneath time-worn sneakers A lone wanderer sighs Beside him, run tributaries sparkling like Swarovski crystals Wriggling, snake-hissing streams In the trees, a chickadee chirps a flashy Morse code Pleading to a sad, exsanguinated sun Green mountains salute the vagabond Our banished wanderer Into territories not slightly unfamiliar As when …

by Derek Rodman Four Walls Four walls and a bed. Clear walls and sound mind A place to finally call mine Infinite space to reflect Think about everything so far How’d I ever get this far? Weight of my bags, I no longer carry If I unpack this place will become Four walls and a bunk. …

by Michelle Loum I heard that if you pray to the universe, It will offer you the honey blue skies.   You’ll see clouds twirling, Awaiting your presence, waiting for you to realize, that you are enough.   –    You are fair enough. –    You are good enough.   You don’t even have to try,   Just …

by Alizeh Khawaja Do you remember how it felt?The first time the sun rays gleamed warmth on your skinThe first time you felt the raindrops slide down your armsThe first time you felt the breeze squeeze through your hairDo you remember?The first time you fell in love with the worldDo you remember who you were …

Julia Martyn One side of the potato pit was white with frost-How wonderful that was, how wonderful!And when we put our ears to the pailing- postThe music that came out was magical!The light between the reeks of hay and strawWas a haven in heaven’s gable, an apple tree?With its December-glinting fruit we saw-O you Eve …

by Robert M. Mendonsa For AshleyWater ripples as she treads toward me,A reflection dancing in the wavelet;Reeds tethered to a rocky beach, its sands outshinedBy a glowing primrose sun, A heart of haloed fire.I glimpse that same dazzle in her eyes,Where her innermost light flickers and shinesAzure and crystalline.  

by Alizeh Khawaja the things you saymake me look awaymy eyes are left to straylooking for the rights wordsfor your mouth to sayyour hands are the onesthat keep me from running awayand your tongue spills outnasty news that pierces right throughmy ears have no sudden wayto block those words of betrayalbut your eyes speak truthand …

By Julia Martyn Around 1954, I’d walk home from schoolIn the afternoonsI’d stop and sit by the little streamAnd rub my fingers on the pebblesI loved the raw circles I made on their tipsCircles as red as the skinUnder the plump bubble of a blister.Around 1960, the year of Bach, especially on bad nights I’d …

by Robert M. Mendonsa Amber doors of dawn      Wake me from sleep Dark as death,     To roam from warm, hazy streets      To the cold moors of dread,Past the frothy window panes sheathed      From the breath of all these undead;They march along the shore, unable to weep,     …

Tim Bleecker This is the brown-leaf muskinessa man might smell if he were newly lying in his grave.Above that chord of rich decaythere wafts a harmonyof buds and grass and hope.Lying outside, alone at lastin the generous clasp of spring,I give myself to the bell-likecrinkle of old leaves, to last year’scrunchy grass and the damp …

by Alizeh Khawaja stop ravaging this worldby thinking you can make it your ownthis world needs hopenot another disaster to copepeople are differentDesirousImportantFascinatingFierceEagerRareEfficientNoticeableTrueembrace the newembrace the freshembrace the originalityin those who are differentthey are not dangerous in any waythey are just made this waydon’t undermine themjust because you want to be them

Amanda Bordenca In a world of such uncertainty,Hope is all we have.Be kind to those around you,And the ones you have not met.Sympathy and empathy,Qualities hard to find.But when you meet those special peopleBe sure to pay some mindOr you won’t see their value.Your eyes are blind when looking close,Open up and take a read.You’ll …

by Alizeh Khawaja the rhythm of my heartdoesn’t ask for forgivenessit yells for considerationthat maybe this timeyou won’t turn your words into bullets and shoot the valves that make me this lividBut who am I kidding,you’ll just be another witnessto the divine chaosthat my heart has to live in

by Alizeh Khawaja I keep forgettingYour blue eyes rolling whenever you got madThe way your sneaky smirk made my eyes light upi keep forgettingThe times you held me when I felt worthless Sharing secrets thru the taste of your soft lips I keep forgetting yet I know what every single moment that I loved you …

Tim Bleecker Dead River, Dead River, let’s make a reviewof all the trash you absorb from us,the burdens we sink in you.In the scum of an eddy a baby carriage squats,one wheel just straining above the slime.The gleam of bottlesinterrupts your mud,and snagged in your weedsare papers covered with crime.Dead River, Dead River, inexorable flow,where …

Julia Martyn His voice was as deep as the ocean,Years of medication came in-handy now.Listen to the humming birdwhose wings you cannot see.Listen to the butterfly.Listen to the mind of God.Don’t listen to me.

Destiny Donahue Breathing is the only thing hinting that I am actually alive.It comes out in huffs, freezing before my eyes. Running my tongue along the length of my chapped lips,I feel my ripped skin snag and sting for moisture.My hair is in tangles like a garden of snakes,but he will be here soon.He’ll take …

Michelle Davis I saw you across the room-A spark,A kindred soul.When I got closer, I saw so much more…The journey has been a whirlwind-Feelings,Adventures,Souls dancing.Suddenly the earth shakes-A mistake-You are on the other side-A crater deep forms between us.I’m scared,lost, alone.I look into your eyes. Distance,Disappointment,Heartbreak,I reach out-Desperate to touch you.Fall to my knees,Begging,Clawing at …

by Robert M. Mendonsa For Ken Your shade is lost, drifting alone      Amid forgotten waves that breakAgainst shores distant and forgone.     Lost echoes, their tolling,Incarcerated undertones–     Cut off in a void, worlds apart,Leaving behind only this gravestone. Remnants stand together in a field, still,      Yet I am so utterly …

by Alizeh Khawaja I am on a searchFor a place filled with loveWhere the rain leaves a rainbow at every chanceWhere our minds are parallel not divergingWhere the desire to be seen as equal doesn’t existWhere boys can cry freely and girls can run the world without being underestimated (Where pineapple doesn’t go on pizza)Where …

By Abigail Duffer You see my tears, you see my scarsYou don’t hear my cries, you don’t see my painYou see my smile, you hear my laughYou see my suffering, but you do nothingYou heard my story, you said they were liesYou watched as I fell apart, but still did nothingYou watched as my grades …

Destiny Donahue Dad can’t have tequila;I guess it makes him stripAnd dance on top of tables.Mom can’t have vodka;She gets angry, throws glass,And stomps up the stairs.That’s okay, though-I’ve learned to pick up the broken piecesWithout cutting myself anymore.Today I learned something new though;Mom can’t have tequila either.It doesn’t make her strip like Dad,But instead, …

Michelle Davis The air so thick It crushes my lungs With each labored breath I walk forward.To the unknownTo a world without youThe sun burningMy eyes and skinHeart bleedsLeaving a trail of sorrow behind.I don’t dare look back to see you To see her in your armsShieldedCradled Loved Taken my place by your sideI travel …

Zach Rahed ISaturday morningsWatching Looney Tunes in Red Sox pajamasCasual drives down Lake StreetSummer of ’99Pancakes whisked and flippedOldies whistling “The House of the Rising Sun”The Animals strumming resonant chordsLike ruby-throated, jet-planed wings outside the glass“Boys, come quick!” Grandpa’s adamant“A hummingbird! Ooooo!” he gawksA spatula caked with pancake batterClacks against the floor“Kenneth!” Granny scornsFeet stomp …

by Robert M. MendonsaThis incessant dark instillsA rage beyond capacity.Trapped, I beckon the gloomIn a longing, wrathful pondering.A vermilion mist, its droplets stingLike the burn of a viper’s kiss,Pours from whence it cameBeyond the brimstone barsOf this intolerable alteration.Vaporous fiends, they dragTalons clawed into my cogitation,Their eyes lost in opalescent leersWhile I’m pulled from the …

Julia Martyn Pretend there is a movie,And in that movie,We are the stars,And we fall in love,We are separated—–There are many troublesperhaps the world is on the brink of war,but we struggle on,for months or even years.At last the struggle ends.The music starts.I am in your arms,The rain stops, a train leaves,And we kiss.After the …

Tim Bleecker Inaptly named, though dagger billed,the killdeer shrieks her plaintive cry,bobs her body—tail dipped, head high—in pacifistic vehemence, filledwith guile. Who taught her to be wise?How thrilling to watch her flashing blackand white as the object of her attack,pinned down by her orange-circled eyes.Quicker than the leap of my heartshe’s in retreat, has lost …

by Alizeh Khawaja I look at eyes Like how I look at the skyI look for ensconced tiny stars Behind the grey bars,The lines jet planes create when theyScrape the light polluted atmosphereJust being aware of your risk makes you less likely to fall

By Olivia Agostini I couldn’t take it anymore, his booming voice and wrath. I’d cower, cover ears and pray his fire’d die, he’d go away.I’d sob and hide up on the stairs, my mother’d guard me well, But as his face went crimson red, he’d throw my suitcase, words unsaid, And I and mother huddled …

Last Time By Edwin Chamba Oh I’m so lonely Since my soulmate Abandoned me So much for holy matrimony All I got is this bottle Sweetest sip of formaldehyde All I can remember is Our first time

The Flood By Danielle Bennett   I spend a great deal of time Preparing for what’s to come What words will work What to say without actually Saying it when it comes time to be said   Saying anything That will get me further away from the truth The only thing I say,   Is …

The Red Estate By Alexandria Drouin   Feeling good starts with not answering the door that cracks and creeks Its light is bright almost gone   If all the laundry is soiled It must be right where we left it Rise delusion rise, Rise illusion rise, Rise from our knees to my feet and keep …

Transcend By Samantha Lynch   The ripples of the plains grass danced in breezes of sunlight, Rich ambrosial earth under their feet. Darkness in the form of clouds rolled throughout The heavens above hungry and relentless Waves of salt and vast ferocity crashed over the plain edge. The northern storm brewing by the hands of …

Frostbite By Keegan Eller   As the dark moon Comes all too soon. Shielding the sun Winter has begun.   Her mind is ice, Frozen in time. Yet it does slice Due to mistime.   The wind it blows As if it knows All her secrets. Nights are sleepless.   The words spring from lips …

Snow Peaked By Samantha Lynch   Grey smoke from his lips dances over the profile of his face The same way cold blue clouds roll across the curves of mountains. The slope of his face raises and falls under those clouds.   Empty and lonesome, is life even up there? Branches claw at the sky, …

I, the Explosion By Emily Grochowski   I, the explosion disintegrate to particles, Fractured glass en masse by newspaper articles, Forgotten prints, déjà vu of Kristallnacht reenacted This is creation; do not despair I am abstracted.   Omit the guillotine for my executioner; this was an act of Lucifer, The cataclysmic vein instilled by propaganda …

Head to Bed By Alexandria Drouin   I don’t work All my friends are gone I won’t let these be my tapping shoes I lay my clothes flat on the line This isn’t where I was born   I listen to the owl’s hoot The trees dressings have fallen ill I call out for my …

Hereditary By Scarlet Phoenix Rise   I watched my father crumble as he hit a bottle of gin, And in the morning he woke with a heart too soft and a frown on his chin. He said that he couldn’t take it; that pain that was driving him mad, And so then, I couldn’t take …

Libraquarius: A Poetic Story By Scarlet Phoenix Rise   It was raining outside So I ran out in my shorts, The warm Air Keeping me afloat. I ran past the bark Mulch And the rivers of mud, Trotting along Unafraid of The lack of sun Through the alleys I went, Past the old meadow brook, …

Fragments (Fingers Poem) By Emily Grochowski   Fragmented are fingers But fragmented I linger, As memories disintegrate to dust and all hath withered away, Ought this mind have been purgatoried since my doom of bubonic plague Yet I am immune; envision phantom fingers through a hand quite maimed:   Mimicking A deconstructed pentagram, each line …

Vieil homme hiver By Sam Sweikata   You called for me to come outside Where it was cold on my skin, But I knew that you would make it Worth my while if I did.   I agreed and took towards the Brisk starlit sky. Down a mountain Across the sea, I met you under …

Astroanatomy By Sam Sweikata   She sits, staring into tomorrow as the sun Dips into the horizon. Salt water dances on her toes And she knows that no matter how long she Stares that nobody cares enough to ask About how fast she comes or goes.   With the wind, it arrives like a kiss …

Birkenau Structured By Emily Grochowski   Lachrymose is death Bereft of Zyklon B, Famined anomaly Of bygone withered breaths. Recede ebbing pause, Pro-death since its collapse, A Birkenau relapse Of infested gauze. Electric screams of fence, Hail executioner! Departed revolutioner Of being’s pretense. Mangled infant howling, Blinding vapors strange, Eternally deranged This helpless foundling. Upon …

Jericho By Sam Sweikata   You have shown me a world that exists Within our own existence. To the naked eye, nothing looks out of place. If I look hard enough sometimes I can see The pieces of the stars that have fallen.   You took the hand of a blind being And led them …

Advantages of Being a Woman Artist and Not Publishing Inspired by Guerrilla Girls’ “conscience of the art world” By A. T. Halaby   “working without the pressure of success” not having to sit for your artist photo being left out of history books living without the fear of someone going through your stuff when you …

non-sonnet one By A. T. Halaby   I say, my certain love, I may have Mistook you for destiny By force of my heart, the disaster of Storms weathering away my sight! Anxious belly thinking about kissing Pulsing in all of the moments in-between. The handsome redness of your hair Excitement in your voice And …

Barriers By Keegan Eller   There’s a wall in front of me Blocking all that I can see Cruelty, as I only observe Maybe it’s what I deserve.   I fear that I’ve become blind For I cannot seem to find That which I desperately seek As it all seems so very bleak.   Hard …

Chakras By Sam Sweikata Sit Up and Be still. Let the sun Be the crown that sits Atop your head. Use Your eyes to look Inside yourself.  Open your Mouth And speak a Higher truth. Speak Of love and healing With a power from within. Look to the past for the strength Of a Thousand …

Dyad By Sam Sweikata   You are the sunrise. The daylight that breaks Over the horizon, Dancing into tomorrow.   You are the moon. Lighting the path Of the less traveled, A force of mystery.   You are the push of the Sand against the ocean. The sails of a ship Racing to the coast. …

Hiding Places By Danielle Bennett   Around 10, I check my body cavity for potential hiding places. I see the space other girls take up, I wonder how they became so good at folding into themselves to minimize surface area. I learn sucking in the stomach is a useful tactic.   Around 20, I have …

Nose Bleed By Alexandria Drouin   Deep breaths of near rasps provided fables Of gas, dust, and those lion plants I danced around in a restless trance; Water wheels and jazz bands   In the mirrors reflection dozed with those long candles and pianos I held on to my empty ghost high up on my …

Symptoms By Danielle Bennett   She is alone and stirring I lock myself away Just like her I know better than to let it boil But I’m always getting burned Trying to suffocate dangerous flames She is trying to make phone calls without a phone Asks me to help her dial the number I say …

What If? By Keegan Eller   What if changes nothing What if doesn’t make things better It could be argued that it makes them worse But what if it didn’t?   What if gets us nowhere What if takes us elsewhere Somewhere we’re not supposed to go But what if it didn’t?   What if …

Caution By Danielle Bennett   She is all bite Waiting for the perfect moment to lock Her jaw down on your hasty words She will swallow them But only enough To keep them lodged in her esophagus She will spit them out on command And look at your feet Ask why you’re not cleaning up …

RAIN POEM For Lowell, MA By A. T. Halaby   Rain I have spoken of you many times And suppose I may be distracted by How I feel completely still and stopped And without breath to beg to cough   Interrupt your motions Your many multiplying sounds If I am to bare my chest You …

The Sunflowers By Samantha Lynch   Position yourself on the oak, wooden floor. Feel your toes wiggle within your soft, white socks. Here, sits a small life with you, ready to explore Delicate notes fill the air from the music box See the orange sunset streaming in Come, let us begin.   To start, remove …

the keepers and the kept By Danielle Bennett   The keepers and the kept all dwell underneath the same concrete structure America, decides profits are more worthy than humans So they allow for political bribery Profit from keeping the people down And cuffed then shoved behind steel bars America, strategic in it’s money making Set …

Untitled By Michael Kaminski   I knew a mortician’s daughter, powder-white Raven Graves. With skin hail cold, plots she sold… Yikes, my custard-rich soul she craved!

Aewyna By Erica Coakley   The wind is the wind, The earth is the earth, A bird is a bird, The ocean is the ocean. The lake was to be nothing but a lake.   She was expected to be bright, And so she tried. As darkened clouds slunk through the sky, She clung to …

To My New Students, a Plea By Tim Bleecker   When I picture myself I’m at my best, hair cut a fortnight ago, skin flaws hidden by one day’s stubble and lit by a warm, diffused glow . . . never in fluorescent light looking sallow. I’d appreciate you doing the same for me. In …

Super Nintendo By Zack Smith   The rough patches of my fingers pick up the remote, resting smooth edges on heavily fictional surfaces, lining up with old wounds and new sores.   Wires dangle over toes, pulling in three directions as the lights amble through the color palate, leading eyes to scenery.   Caps and …

doing stuff By Tasty Steve   This is the least comfortable chair I’ve sat in. Yesterday it was fine. But now I’m doing this. So it’s not comfortable anymore. Nothing is comfortable right now. I want to stop. But I’ve started. This is the hardest part, right? Starting? That’s what I’ve told myself. I think …

Women By Erik Phillip Lindsay   Life’s one true obsession, your infinite mysteries forever continuing to explore, Sins of the flesh shared all cherished while causing endless lusting for more. Lessons learned from the foremost teacher of love causing enlightening of the soul, Loss of each one causing heartbreak while hoping for another to soon …

The Room is Too Loud By Samantha Lynch   It smells like old ladies in here, Lilac, lavender, moth balls Old perfume that would only be worn on special occasions That has not been actively worn since 1968.   Sorry Please Excuse me Stop Good morning Talking Thank you Please   1       2      3      4     …

Melissa By Erik Phillip Lindsay   At first, gaze transfixed by enchanting island beauty of perfections exotic mix, The pursuit of intoxicating allure immediately undertaken sans bag of usual tricks. The touch of dark silken skin upon mine a divine memory never to be lost, Insatiable desire to hold you breathlessly beneath me never seeming …

Self-Portrait in Progress By Jacob Senghas   Exhaustion was an old friend; Thousands of mutual moments over a midnight kiln Made them as lovers, their embrace personal, Serene. Hardship held close, welcomed Into her bones, not a humbled harbinger, A triumphant town crier, telling Of the harvest festival; The dirt-scratchers return, Laden with sustenance.   …

Return to Nature By Jacob Senghas   A million pleasantries, like fog, spill forth. I understand, but still my sight, obscured. So, blurry lines divide the price from worth; My inability to think, ensured.   “I’m standing where modernity recedes, The traffic fading out to distant waves, The beauty of this woodland grove impedes My …

Proud Liability By L.Deepwater   Every time I have a panic attack I ask the question: Do I talk to someone? Do I dare ask for help and in the process open myself up for harm? Do I dare bother them with the wasteful banter that I use to hide my insecurities? So I stay …

I am a Shadow By L.Deepwater   I am a shadow I watch I learn I mimic I am a shadow I chase I follow I dance in the sun’s glowing rays I am a shadow A silent, better you

Why? By Eli Miller   When future generations ask us, “How did you stop the bloodshed?” I will not be the one to say, “You have to.”   No child should have to fear Others. After so Much death, we must ask Ourselves, when will it end? Are we Ready to make a difference? It’s …

Toilet Troubles By Keegan Eller   It was a Thursday The walls were grey Why must I wait For so long – hey   The door opened And she walked out Her eyes frightened I saw her pout   Our eyes met Briefly but yet Was a moment shared For anyone who cares   She …

Emotionless Emotions By Keegan Eller   Lonely, not alone. Smile, no cheer. Homeless, at home. Sad, no tears.   Trapped yet free. Rich but poor. Has everything, Wants more.   Hurt but strong. Alcohol, not drunk. High, no bong. Drowning, not sunk.   Hooked on, no drugs. Smart, but stupid. Suffocating, on hugs. Love, no …

Life’s Contradictions By Keegan Eller   I took the guitar without even knowing how to play. I carried an umbrella though it was bright as day. I climbed Mount. Everest when I was afraid of heights. I work the late shift though I am weary of the nights.   I learned to surf without even …

The Heart of a Teacher By Carla Duran   The child arrives like a mystery box … with puzzle pieces inside Some of the pieces are broken or sometimes missing And others just seem to hide   But the Heart of a teacher can sort them out … and help the child to see The …

Untitled By Charlotte Koch   Fragments are taken from me One at a time They slip away, like lost lovers Lost moments of clarity Fading light of a dying sun And I cry small rivers Hoping to collect them And make them an ocean So all my fragments may drift On their tributaries, Lost little …

Stitches By Samantha Pirog   Will my eldest brother die?   Poison drips steadily into my heart.   “Do you want us to call you if he dies?”   My other brother, Luke, aims his acid. Striking me down and snapping my sanity.   Will praying be enough to keep him alive?   Red angry …

The Last Call of the Crow By Thomas Catyb   I soar through clouds in darkness of the night, The sun blocked out by wings of angels true, I seek the day where I can be in light, Where black skies turn to a brilliant blue. For now my world has been in disarray, Falling …

Unfair By Edwin Chamba Un·fair /an’fer/ adj. 1. A person being born into a poor or abusive family / A person having toxic friends or role models 2. Knowing that we are most likely made to suffer / If we want to succeed / We must fight and struggle to attain get success / Seeing …

Karpe Diem By Edwin Chamba   I, yes the author, want you, yes the reader, to tear this poem apart. Why are you still reading? Go on! Karate chop it in half Really give it the business Attack like it owes you money Squish like stress ball Head-butt it like a lunatic Twist it Tear …

My Only Friend By Edwin Chamba   All my life I’ve been scared I been scared of losing you I would wake up early every morning To check if you were there too I would miss you in the dark I would love you during the day You are always by my side We jump …

A Failed Attempt In Writing a Procrastination Poem By Edwin Chamba                                                            

First Time By Edwin Chamba   Sweetest of smiles Hot lips made of hymns Tingles on her tongue Sweetest sip of sin Please more  Please    

My Sunday Afternoon By Delaney Conserva   Flex back and forth And flip the pages Caress them like silk, and It leaves a papercut. Feel the weight of the binding, and Anticipate the weight of its insides. I once read that we are all stories, we are All an open book. So I shall tear …

Empty Space By Maddie Fox   Scribbling my words into thin air. Make motions with stale fingers, prick the I’s, cut the T’s— Have to document my thoughts somehow.   Reading my words to the dust I left behind me. Sharing thoughts with dead leaves in an empty wood And for some reason, I expect …

Broken Lovers By Maddie Fox   & I’ll cry for you on the kitchen floor, but I won’t ask you to come back. Broken bones of the past piece together the only skeleton left in your closet- And I’ll always remember his name. Recognize secrets in his eyes. A familiar face in every broken boy …

Finally Beyond the Pine-Treed Back Roads of my Morning Commute, I Think of You Early this September Morning By Tom Laughlin   The bright sun kisses The corn fields that I pass Grown tall and stretched Near to bursting With plump kernels of sweetness within Golden gems that sparkle and spill out over the tops …

Woman-Loving By Racheal Rodman   Too much anxious time is spent thinking about the space that you and I occupy   in a political sense. Rather than ruminate on rhetoric, I refuse huddling under a queer umbrella   and linger instead in rain of Sappho, woman-loving, self-conscious, even gleeful,   not guilty or effaced.

 Thick Thighs By Charlotte Koch   My thighs rub together when I walk. They sing a spiteful symphony, Brisk whispers as I shuffle down the hall— Pooling at the cross roads of my body, Causing flooding for miles around.   Three inches below the apex of my thighs, The point where layers of fat touch …

We Are You, But Not Your Love By Amanda Bordenca   You do not control me. Listen when I speak. I hear you but don’t listen. Is it me that you seek? We are you. As confused as you may be. You are not you Without a little of me. Your thoughts we own, Your …

A Letter to the Unforgiven By Teri-ann Fico   I remember the first time you parallel parked. You fit so perfectly, so evenly, and even when I stood on the other side of the street, I could still see how much you belonged in that spot, that time, that space. For now you could finally …

Dance Fever By Teneisha Mytil   Let the beat move you Let the heat drive you Hearts-a-thumpin Feets-a-stompin As long as I’m with you My soul’s aflame You know I’m not to blame Flashing lights and swinging hips C’mon baby let’s get jiggy with it Reach an all new high We can’t stop Won’t stop …

Nouveau Riche By Teneisha Mytil   Golden rings and flash banging dresses We are the next generation The princes and princesses   Draped in green paper like fine silk Our eyes are us The healthy amongst the ill   And we sin our way through time Doing the cokes, opes, and dopes Make the world …

-its, -icks, and -ips By Teneisha Mytil   Please don’t mind my fits My annoying and uninspired little tricks The way the pen in my hands does a little flip Around my fingers every time there’s a little tick tick tick -ing in my brain Which feeds me my daily dose of tips To get …

Thoughts of a Useless Mind A Collection of Irish Shanties By Alexandria Drouin   Cemetery Ballet   Dragging the stick along the fence Approaching the graveyard where they buried the remains A stone: “Here lies her hopes and dreams” The roses will rise, but the ground will freeze   A beautiful carousel covered in snow …

Unfelt Freedom By Drew A. Breton   When I walk down the street All I see is my feet Wanna make footsteps Laid down in concrete   Want to be seen for the things I’ve done Just want to be loved by everyone But people don’t see the shooter Only remembering the gun   After …

Trichotillomania By Charlotte Koch   I think the beginning of it all was the pulling. The careful process of latching on, prying that infinitesimal piece of yourself from your own body, to gain control of your thoughts, to go blank for a while.   I can remember seeing myself for the first time, the horror …

The Way By Keegan Eller   It’s the way he looks at you with a glint of mischief in his eye as if he knows your reaction before you know what he’s planning. It’s the way he laughs and grins when he does something you would otherwise deem cheesy but it makes a smile burst …

Offering What Was Left Behind By A.T. Halaby   Often I have taken words by the mouth like I would any lover and faithful to their traces      they are not just pieces of rock kicked on        sidewalks proportioned from boulders little pieces of mountains        shaped by the pressure it took              to separate them.   I …

In Between By Dana Shahar   When the song starts to play, It’s the trembling notes that grip you like tiny, pink fingers. When we start to dance, it’s wool socks on carpet and mouths full of laughter. I feel exposed, like an orange, And I reach for the dozens of pieces that made up …

How I Learned To Smell The Rain A Poem for Devi Lockwood By A.T. Halaby   I let the thunder sit on my chest as I slept   as each drop of rain was paused, waiting to   make its move toward the earth.   Just then I witnessed sets of arms reaching out as …

From Inside My Body By A.T. Halaby   Something like. The night Was still happening and. The morning wasn’t ready. Like Language’s suggestion (it’s struggling, I Mean, really, it’s in trouble) Is in its deal with my mind. To tell me what I want to hear. Thoughts don’t tire out, they Don’t have bodies. What …

Equinox By Ashley Puddester   Summer nights draw to a close and our glory days are done. Leaves already changing, and soon winter has begun. Warm, vibrant sun broke through the fog for one last day, Until the absence of you sapped the magic away. Hypothermic souls shiver: frostbitten, sickly blue, The same shade of …

Down Your Drain By Connor Seavey   Wash the demons down your drain Never to be seen again Where do they go When you’re done with them? What are we without them? The night is long Long enough for yearning Crawling slowly Toward something else Close the door Lock the bolt Wash the demons away …

Breathe By Josh Nieman   Inhale. Gasping at the start. Relish in the satisfaction. Gentle touch of my fingers caress your skin. Clutching my hand against your wrist to pin you down. Dripping wet with beads of sweat that spread from every pore. Your senses rush and sway for the entire length of this roller …

Alone By Keegan Eller   The moon shines, The sun blinds. The wind blows, Cold as snow. A smile fake, Work of art. The dawn breaks, Like my heart. To have all, But have none. To stand tall, Until you’re done. While you slept, Alone I wept. All the peace, Yet none for me. And …

By Deenah Jacques   She screams, her throat turns ripe and red her mother’s body lowered into ground. A woman rushes to her, “It’s okay, It’s okay” grasping shoulders, her words flocking in the air, like dazed starlings.   I look over to this scene from a distance dirt shuffling around feet, flowers placed on …

  By Chelsea Sanchez Baby I want to smash bottles Against the wall Plates splintered On the hardwood floor   But I can’t bring myself To care   You are the only one Who can pull my strings The only one allowed To wind me up So I can move and dance And cry and …

By Sharitza Pardo   I see her standing in her bright pink leotard fake microphone in her hands, ready to sing her heart out to a song with words she can barely pronounce at that age, eyes focused and brows furrowed, her little sister in a bright blue tutu, curls falling around her shoulders, shaping …

By Jacqueline Krozy Snuggling your loving daughter on the carpet, staring up at her nightlight, giving her soft cheeks warm kisses to twinkle little star— right before she goes to bed… then returning to her crib before you slumber. When you enter her room, See her cuddling her books You pick her up, Cradle her …

By Jackie Krozy   They said, he said, she said, I mechanically wag my head, But really, I do not accept these words. Lava grumbles and lurches, Opening crags in my stomach, As mindfully, I make that hesitant smile, hear their hypocritical advice from greedy hearts That have that sacred thing That my whole life …

By Krissy Bradley   Do you love me still? Could you fix the drafty door? He replies, not today dear, but soon I will   I’d rather play black jack down the hill I’ll wait to do that chore Do you love me still?   I rake the leaves alone in the autumn chill I know …

By Krissy Bradley   Grandfather’s Guinness grows on our maple tree Like shiny coins or crisp bills His glass half full or mostly half empty As he sits in a leaning house with broken window sills   While Mother’s meatballs simmer in sauce Handmade with love and garlic so sweet The magic she makes and the …

By Gail Mooney   I. Against the night harbor sea roses open, loose petalled and trembling with scent. My mother cups a flower to my nose saying They smell most beautiful as they die.   She points to a peeled birch her hands freckled like the camouflage of leaf and shade, her palm smoothed across …

By Amanda Hayes   I wish a part of me could forget the art of you, wash away the memories you canvassed on my lips and the way you spray painted my thighs, simply wipe away the paint you stained down through my hips.   Three years elapse and I painfully grasp the notion of you …

By Amanda Hayes   You promised me sea glass but gifted me crushed shells. You left me choking under the pressure of the ocean. Stranded and stuck, I endure the anchor of disappointment.   I dreamt that you mattered to me. I called you daddy when the waves got too rough and wrapped around my …

By Carolyn Mayer   In the wax and wane of our conversations we would sometimes misunderstand each other’s words  or misunderstand each other’s thoughts     or she did not hear the words. On Wednesdays, we shared our noon teas and secret conversations just my mother and I        soaking in the numinous intimacy of a new day. …

By Carolyn Mayer   the finger of black dust–   forgives the pleasure of sex and chocolate   forgives the day’s wine and leisure   forgives collections of cashmere sweaters   and the garden of clay angels with broken wings nest lost fledglings   Ash Wednesday   penitent forehead of dust.

By Carolyn Mayer   Through the smokey haze of the pine lit candles, and the blaring closed caption TV, I held my ear close to Nana’s reaching words.  Her tales of chipped and worn ornaments became myth angels, stars and bells.  With the blaze of her lit cigarette, her slow and vast utterances trailed into …

By Mary-Kate Haley   I can feed you lines so beautiful, much like your eyes in May. With your lines and lies, this is doable.   Those blue eyes caught my attention like abusing pharmaceuticals. Filled with wonder, relapse, questions; I knew you would help me decay. You helped to write a line of my …

By Mary-Kate Haley   The frigid morning wind blew leaves past at 7 a.m.   Phone off the hook, dangling from the cord like the swaying strings of my heart. “He’s gone,” the voice had said.   Like seasons come and leave so suddenly. The wind blew everything past. but everything seemed motionless– still, my …

By Jaime Lyn Twombly   They stare at each other across the table and that’s all it takes to for her to be wrapped around his little finger. Shaggy brown hair and a laugh that’s contagious; she lost before she’s even conscious of it. It isn’t supposed to be anything more than dinner. Her walls …

By Jaime Twombly   Grown from a sapling into an Awkward young thing Nibbling on fingertips, clumsy And tripping over shoelaces tied Not so carefully   I tried to write you a poem Rolled the words over my tongue, Put them inside packages tied With little blue bows but They never made it onto paper …

By Jaime Lyn Twombly   It is Sunday and there is nothing but the newspaper and last night’s clothing scattered on the floor A trail to the bedroom from the front door where little feet and big feet are tangled, hanging off the edge of the bed Sweat on your brow and my dirty fingernails …

By Jaime Lyn Twombly   She was gripping the railing as if she would fall and crash to her death if she let go. Her knuckles turning white, blood rushing from her face leaving a pale and empty mask behind. He was staring at her, the guilt written on his face like scarlet letters, his …

  By Chelsea Sanchez   I die several times a month My heart pounds, chest aches, palms sweat My soul floating out of my skin Is as familiar to me as falling asleep Sharp pains shooting through my back Are shrugged off with commonplace ease Just another Tuesday   Sometimes my lungs are paralyzed No …

By Joseph Nardoni   The coffin slid back into the red placental blaze, the door swung shut, like life’s own womb prolapsed inward— she was gone to ash and atmosphere.   He returned to empty house rustles, open-curtained shadows falling from the lips of an end table graced with a dusty coaster and a beer …