A Poem by Donal Mahoney

Study in Fidelity

Breaking news:
Woman in a Cadillac
tries to run over
the husband
she claims is
a serial philanderer
and misses by inches.
She puts the car
in reverse
and roars over
another man
out for a walk
with his mistress.
the man dies
at the scene.
No word on whether
charges will be filed
or whether the widow
will testify on behalf
of the driver.
The women say
they're involved
in a long-term
relationship
both husbands
were aware of.
Details at ten.



Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.  His poetry and fiction have appeared in a number of print and online publications.

A Poem by Shaquana Adams

Signs

 

You were Chris McCandless, 

but I didn't like the wild.

It's far too unpredictable and consequently,

I've been stranded in rain's unforgiving storm.

But I wanted you, so I went anyway.

You were Jack Sparrow,

Fuck the Black Pearl, 

who knows what you were after...

I took my point hat,

stood by your side,

and drank to the pirates life.

You were Jack from Titanic

A few meetings and you were mine.

But we were from two different worlds...

“Where to miss?”

“To the stars.”

And we sank.

Shaquana Adams is a graduate of Francis Marion University. She has been published in several literary magazines and journals such as The Snow Island Review, The Bicycle Review, Dead Snakes, Twenty Something Press, and The World of Myth. Outside of poetry, she enjoys yoga, crocheting, and reading novels in her spare time

A Poem by Dawnell Harrison

Frosty Fingers

Your frosty fingers
on my warm face
reflected fragmented
shadows on my heart's bone.
My cold voice echoed
on heaven's hill as
transparent blue-white
icicles formed on my
back doorstep eaves.

Dawnell Harrison has been published in over 100 magazines and journals including The Endicott Review, The Journal, Fowl Feathered Review, Jellyfish Whispers, The Bitchin' Kitsch, Vox Poetica, The Tower Journal, Queen's Quarterly, and many others.  Also, she has had 4 books of poetry published through reputable publishers titled Voyager, The maverick posse, The love death, and The fire behind my eyes.  Furthermore, she possess a BA from The University of Washington.

A Poem by Theresa A. Cancro

Seething Blue

The turquoise of the Mediterranean
never clings to me.
It smiles, disappears
as I plunge hands in
like I plumbed your depths
but saw no reflection there.

Malocchio* watches now, 
unblinking on the side,
as I grip weathered oars.
Uneasy calm, a brusk wave
tosses my open heart,

buffets fishing boats --
black lies stare.

 

 

 

Theresa A. Cancro (Wilmington, Delaware, USA) writes poetry and fiction.  Some of her poetry has been published on online sites, including Three Line Poetry, Dead Snakes and A Handful of Stones. Her haiku has been accepted for publication in the December 2013 issue of A Hundred Gourds.

Two Poems by Dawnell Harrison

Thrashing

I was thrashing
my bones against
your heart in the icy
chill of December as
the white bursts
of snow numbed your
soul solid.
I did not reach out
to your broken hands
that could no longer
hold a thread of my
endangered longing.



Train Wreck

A squall of birds
bent down to see
the wildfire bellowing
near the train wreck
waiting to happen.
Above a blackened sky
I slept with empty dreams
as my mind crashed
against something
not called love.

Dawnell Harrison has been published in over 100 magazines and journals including The Endicott Review, The Journal, Fowl Feathered Review, Jellyfish Whispers, The Bitchin' Kitsch, Vox Poetica, The Tower Journal, Queen's Quarterly, and many others.  Also, she has had 4 books of poetry published through reputable publishers titled Voyager, The maverick posse, The love death, and The fire behind my eyes.  Furthermore, she possess a BA from The University of Washington.

A Poem by Dawnell Harrison

Fallen Away

What was soft inside me
has fallen away -
broken off like an icicle
from back doorstep eaves.
My heart lies within
but bleeds without.
The whispering of the stars
love the sky while the silky moon
bled white bursts of light.

Dawnell Harrison has been published in over 100 magazines and journals including The Endicott Review, The Journal, Fowl Feathered Review, Jellyfish Whispers, The Bitchin' Kitsch, Vox Poetica, The Tower Journal, Queen's Quarterly, and many others.  Also, she has had 4 books of poetry published through reputable publishers titled Voyager, The maverick posse, The love death, and The fire behind my eyes.  Furthermore, she possess a BA from The University of Washington.

Two Poems by Sarah Thursday

Lies To Tell My Body

 

My bones are steel-heavy

as I walk the days with it

Pores on my skin ache

weighted by an iron-core earth

pulling me towards her

Down, she says, lay with me

 

My eyes can't see clear

turn skull-bound, sinking

pregnant with memory

The fibers in my muscles

weep at their loss of it

motion, forward, direction

 

The nuclei in my cells

pull and push against-toward

refusing to agree with you

Everyday, they keep forgetting

why I can't just dial the number

or drive 23 miles northwest

 

My arms know the exit-curves

(like the length of your limbs)

my feet know how many steps

(like the edge of your sheets)

I don't need my eyes to guide me

my hands, they know where

 

But my heart knows to stay

in my honey-thick atmosphere

Lock the windows and doors

breath it in, long breaths

circulating it, the new oxygen

Lie to my body, if need be until

I don't need to remember why

 

 

 

Present Affirmations

 

I am almost ready

to be over this

I am almost ready

to see you clear

that you were never really

good enough for me

I am almost ready

to pick up the pieces

I set aside

connect those dots

to pull the curtains open

to rip off the bed sheets

flip all the light switches

call you on your bullshit

see you small

and entirely pathetic

this lost puppy

is finding a new home

so you can keep that

old bitch who returned

I will not be laying

outside your door

I am almost ready

to tell you I'm too busy

I don't have time for

this fucked up game

and I'm tossing out

all the possible scenarios

of your apology

of your seduction

of your returning

I'm done with it

I'm almost ready

I am.

 

 

 

Sarah Thursday was mostly raised in Long Beach, California.  She teaches 4th and 5th grade, is obsessed with music, and has only recently dove into poetry again. She has forthcoming or has been published in Stylus Magazine, The Long Beach Union (CSULB), The Atticus Review, Eunoia Review, East Jasmine Review, Yonic South, poeticdiversity, and a project called Please Judge: Short Stories Based on the Songs of Roky Erickson. She has also made five chapbooks over the years. Recently, she has become the editor of Cadence Collective: Long Beach Poets, almost by accident, but completely on purpose.