By Kit Stookey I stood facing my bathroom mirror, putting on my face for work. I blended my foundation into my neckline, my blush into my foundation, my emotions into dust. My manicured eyebrows were bold enough to keep with the trends, but not so bold to look “mannish.” My mom marveled at how closely … Continue reading Retail Therapist
At Sunset
By Charles Mercy At the gathering, present in my father's compound. There are souls filled with joy, smiling faces luminous than the sun, mouths engulf with laughter, and the marvel sounds of children giggles simultaneously extend the atmosphere. The songs of a new beginning and the sweet cry of a new born. Everybody could be … Continue reading At Sunset
The Enchantment of Living and Other Poems
By Marietta Lea B. Rosana The Enchantment of Living In the twilight of years bouts of pain, tints of joy, memories born of waiting of grace and ceaseless toil Who knows when sorrows come and where joy is to be found I come to terms with intense longing in this timeless journey to my home … Continue reading The Enchantment of Living and Other Poems
Fragments of Matter and Other Poems
By Anthony Ogbonnaya Chukwu Fragment of Matter Fragment of matter at the mercy of the gloom into which I have been cast, sailing to what prefaced the silent structures of the beginning to be found this time in silence or a kind of sound from a violin and the sort of pipe that the Munich's … Continue reading Fragments of Matter and Other Poems
I Wasn’t Drunk
By Jennifer Leigh Kiefer I wasn’t drunk. That’s the truth. I never am though, so I knew you wouldn’t realize I was faking. The half a bottle I had slowly sipped was just an excuse. Something I could blame – we both could blame. As I wandered away from the group huddled on the large … Continue reading I Wasn’t Drunk
Devlin’s Wife
By Lamont A. Turner Above two graves there stands a stone, proud with cross engraved, reared to praise the love that shone, while hiding love enslaved; for near it lays a lonely stone, cracked and worn and leaning, where sleeps the wife of Devlin in darkness blindly weeping: “How well I served the man I … Continue reading Devlin’s Wife
Shallow Pools
By Jack S. Pale in the moonlight skin crystal ball you might see through into the emptiness Contained in shallow barrels meant to hold much more than this but she is in there trying to fill- or make the barrels smaller Hardened footsteps a horse stomps through the mud getting stuck pushing, pulling yet standing … Continue reading Shallow Pools
Familiar Surroundings and Other Poems
By John Grey Familiar Surroundings We’re back and everything is how we left it: our feet walk in old footsteps, our hands leave fingerprint where fingerprints already are. We’ve been away some time, a month or more, but the familiar doesn’t change. One room still leads to another. The ceiling is where it’s always been, … Continue reading Familiar Surroundings and Other Poems
Is She Paying Rent?
By Thomas Payne Birgit was arriving on the 8:32 flight from Chicago. Nathan had asked Jon to drive him to DIA, and asked if they could pick up Heather on the way to make it less date-like. I-25 was clear and Jon was trying to keep it under 85. Nathan lit him a cigarette. “She’s … Continue reading Is She Paying Rent?
Boring Maureen and The Scan
By Maureen Barron Boring Maureen When I was small I hated my name why was I called Maureen? I wanted a nice name If I had a nice name not Maureen or Doreen I would be popular at school People with names like Julia Beverly, Fern or Celia had lots of friends and had surnames … Continue reading Boring Maureen and The Scan
Academy of the Heart And Mind 