by Randel McCraw Helms In Thailand, aged, blinded elephants transportAt the piano of volunteer Paul Barton,Whose love of animals and music willAlter your saddened heart. At a sanctuaryFor abused and damaged working elephantsHe has placed an old upright in a meadow.When he plays her favorite Beethoven, Lam Duan(“Yellow-Flowered Tree”), her crusted eyes streaming,Will slowly pace from the bush, trunk tip Read More
Author: Andre
All Poets Have an Alpha & Omega Poem: Here’s Mine
by John Dorroh Let me see the speckled trout that droppedinto your lap. The lemon butter sauce splayed out on your dress, two capers for eyes, swimmingup into the mysterious channel. Fish has to be preparedjust right, and most of the time it’s not. Professionalchefs tell us that it’s easy. It’s like driving to Bumfuck,Florida. It’s easy only if you’ve Read More
The White Elephant
by Norman Klein My worst nightmare, JG’svisiting her sick mother,leaving me nothing buther white elephantto keep me company. Last night there he was alive,sitting in her chair, eating herpretzels, smoking her smokes,turning sullen and telling me,his life is flat out misery. He watches me burn spaghettiin a pot, spill napkins on the floor,and after sampling a meatballgets down on his Read More
Coffeeshop Alias
by Ellen Huang She comes in with black-framed glasses to see the menubut takes them off briefly for a flicker of posed reflection. She may come with black tee,bright characters, cheap amulet from Amazon& overstuffed Ugly Duckling tote bag. She may take extra time staring like a psychic,but the menu she’s choosing from seems to be something improvised in the Read More
Rom-com
by Maura Yzmore A bubbly, tightly wound woman travels through foreign lands and a gruff, snarky man comes along, for a fee, only because he needs money to save his bar. Along the way, adventure, mayhem and funny quips, them growing close, grand gestures, happy ending, the works. The leads both drop-dead gorgeous, yet relatable, human. Bus station in a village. The two asleep on a bench. She wakes up, sees their Read More
Amazing Things Are Happening Here (Book Review)
Our mainland pachyderms recently ventured out to some islands, courtesy of Jacob M. Appel’s Amazing Things Are Happening Here (available through Black Lawrence Press and Amazon). And despite the irony in the title’s origin, we found Appel’s worlds eye-opening and, well, amazing. Familiar Places Most of Appel’s collection takes place on or near either Cormorant Island, Florida, or Creve Coeur Read More
Eyes on the Sun
by Rickey Rivers Jr. When you saw me in the skyI thought you’d shoot me downbut you only watched me fly. I flew from here to therewith wings from dreams,the wind in my hair. Eyes on the sun,I cut through clouds,made you hopeyou could join this trip around this hip,around this world.Deny you not, eyes on the sun. You love Read More
Raw
by Monica Kagan I long for magic in my life…Does that sound silly? I long for wings and wandsInstead of claws and sores. Flesh strips, flayedVultures lay bareA raw heart– Rended Shrapnel shreds sisters, mother, fatherA familial holocaustA bone tableau Sylvia, Ingrid and VirginiaWeave their wounds into wordsSpiraling down a well I long for wings and wandsInstead of claws and Read More
Hibernation
by William Falo With gear packed and a rifle strapped to my back, I headed to mountain lion country in the snow-covered hills. It wasn’t long before my muscles ached. Dark clouds formed on the horizon after I huffed and puffed up the first hill. The approaching storm looked worse than they predicted. At the summit of the hill, I Read More
candy floss
by Tianna G. Hansen hip bones become butter beneath your tongue // melted, salty veins are rope lassoed to the rhythm of my // heartbeat //i mold to the contour of your hands // whipped sugar & creamcandy floss between your teeth // inhaled, sweet what will remain once you’ve had your fill — a hungering, vacant hole where you used to // Read More