Poem
-
Property of Hell
by Z. T. Corley after Betye Saar’s The Beast that Pounds the Devil’s Dust, 1964I was made in the Devil’s image, something like a bull or a buffalo or a unicorn, wallowing in the dust of damnation. I kneelat the Devil’s feet like a wifebefore her husband, restingmy head on the burning ground,offering my throat Continue reading
-
staycation
by Jill Khoury cape of dew on my neck / flames in the turquoise chakra / inner unseaming / no one knows i am awake right now / the moaning also a trigger / painting with bird in snow hangs crooked / portrait of my long dark ago / when the tale wrote the teller Continue reading
-
Two Poems by JC Reilly
As I Anticipate My Lover Arriving in the Snow, I Make Up SomeCat-Themed Lyrics to My Favorite SongLincoln, NebraskaFlurries mixed with sleet turn the city white and slick. These things don’tseem so nice when it’s almost as frozen in my house as it is outdoors. Giveit another hour, it will be a full-on snowstorm in Continue reading
-
Two Poems by Katy Luxem
GenerationsOne more election and my firstbaby can vote. The other daywe saw two men walkingalong the side of a roadwith a gas can. She asked What do you think they are doing? And I said, starting a fire or, perhaps, they are just helpingone another get home. There really isn’t much distancebetween fear and hope.The Continue reading
-
Two Poems by Eric Fisher Stone
Beautiful Red CreaturesWater mites ride a mosquitolike clusters of hot cherriesthe color of Mars or Arcturus,Earthworms, foxes, male cardinalsplumed with flame, tomato frogsoozing poisonous glue,scarlet ibises and their bills’ sickles,red pandas, red squirrels, lobsters,vermilion flycatchers with wingsas small as rose petals, red-on-yellowto kill a fellow–coral snakes,summer tanagers molting the blazeof their feathers, ladybugs,humboldt squid, firetail Continue reading
-
Coluber Constrictor
by James Evans On the day you died a snake fellfrom the sky as I opened the overhead doorto my garage. It thumped long and black against my chest, slid downmy legs and raced awayinto the green, tall grass. It could be an omen,I thought, but I don’t really believe in things like that and Continue reading
-
Unemployment Doldrums (Kind of Blue)
by Samuel A. Bellin I am released into my nothingness. I turn it into airdisturbed by the pitiful clacking of black squares. Above my gabled roof the yellow moon hangs like a pearripened and full of summer’s sweet juice. I lustand flick the dial on the record player back to “phono”,watch its red light burn Continue reading
-
Restlessness Cento
by Linda Laderman I am three thoughts away from the grave. Alone, I sometimes see coffins under sail. Endlessness enfleshed in emerald & frost & shades I couldn’t name without further study. The gray air molds. Geraniums heat the alleys. Jasmine and gasoline undress the night. I don’t know what to think of first in Continue reading
-
Boyfriends
by Jenny Chu My aunt was always terrified I would die before I could get married. She would tell meto date whichever boys could speak Mandarin,the clumsy ones who fidgeted with their keyboardsand made little electricities every night. I picturedthem, future engineers, kissing, elbows flush againstyellowing wood glue. Some would end up in New York Continue reading
-
inadvertently, I disturb the sanctuary of a nest hidden in a clump of shrubbery
by Julie Allyn Johnson but for this zealous, late-summer breeze, today’s warmth and humidity would likely unravel my otherwise optimistic, carefree nature. finished with yardwork, I sit quietly for a well-earned time out under the shaded eaves on the north side of our three-bedroom ranch. I watch as a groundskeeper traverses the fairway, apparently mindful Continue reading
January House Literary Journal 