EXPLORER In his chest a red ship skids and thuds. He arrives with a scrape of wood at the new and unintended vision. Error lifts the bright hairs on his skin. His eye veers, here among the green dimensions. His wish for a wick of road. There must be a forward somewhere in the … Continue reading Poems by Patricia Nelson
Honorable Mention Piece from the Short Fiction Contest: Death Comes to Aishbagh by Divyanka Sharma
I was getting ready for work when mom told me of grandma’s death. Ambulances were rushing to Beth Israel Medical Center, urgently piercing the morning air with their siren call for space. Ubers and Lyfts and cabs were angrily honking in the 9am rush hour; East Village in New York was ablaze with indifferent and … Continue reading Honorable Mention Piece from the Short Fiction Contest: Death Comes to Aishbagh by Divyanka Sharma
The Spider in the Closet
By Anthony Palma She didn’t move when I nudged her leg, she spinning, suspended from her own web. There are millions of spiders in the world, and her death was largely unnoticed, but to starve to death alone in a closet. I imagine her building her web and settling into the middle, waiting for … Continue reading The Spider in the Closet
The Lamentation of a Mother
By Indunil Madhusankha (Previously published in the 2016 October issue of the Synesthesia Literary Journal on 8th of July 2016) “Amma, when I come the next time, prepare me some Welithalapa.” Saying thus you left for work But all of a sudden like one of your most remarkable surprises You came … Continue reading The Lamentation of a Mother
Loch Ness (Ian’s Night)
By Tricia Marcella Cimera On the banks of the Loch Ness the murderer Ian sees the Monster watching from the black-water edge. Ian is not fearful — he’s just killed his mistress (cried like a bairn) and blood fills his heart, his face a gray rock, cold as a grave. … Continue reading Loch Ness (Ian’s Night)
Poems by Bruce McRae
"Dreams Are For Dreamers" This old bed has seen better days and told different stories. This old bed resembles a sack of broken clothes hangers. As far as portals into sleep go this bed has went. I’m on the rack. It’s the iron maiden. This old bed is an early grave, but death won’t sleep … Continue reading Poems by Bruce McRae
Death Imitating Art
By P.A. O'Neil “I never meant to hurt anyone.” The man looked down and shook his head, damp from the rain, his arms wrapped around his body as if to fend off a chill. “You have to believe me, officer.” The diminutive woman in the police raincoat nodded as she took his statement. “Yes, sir; … Continue reading Death Imitating Art
“Faery”
By Ken Allan Dronsfield I saw objects of my generation destroyed, How I mourned the loss of belief and faith. I cannot help but stop and look at the cunning locale. Down, down, down into the darkness of an abyss, whilst watching from afar within a budding crocus. The lifeline, structured, above all others … Continue reading “Faery”
A Piano Falls
By Marianne Brems As I climb up a third flight of stairs, a piano falls from the sky. Invisible, silent. It lands slowly, deliberately burrowing into my quads. No path to climb out. Somewhere along the way a neuron shifts. A familiar handle sits just out of reach. A window seems harder to … Continue reading A Piano Falls
In The Cemetery
By Ahmad Al-Khatat In the cemetery, I was standing on my knees, reading verses of the holy book to the tombs I was praying with tears on my cheeks until the graveyard stopped me and asked me if I was reading verses or reading sorrows with an emotionless face, he asked to repeat I started … Continue reading In The Cemetery
Academy of the Heart And Mind 