by Paul Robert Mullen the trees in huckleberry grove were bending touching their toes in the gustsso we drove down to the coast where boatsbobbed drunk in the stormand waves curled like hands scraping back the sand who’d have known that laterwhen clouds were sucked into science-fictionelectric white we would be saton benches / walking through pathways where birds singresting Read More
Tag: love
why
by Paul Robert Mullen doyou make somethingthat should feel like lovefeel like war? stretched across vast continentsmy iPhone vibrates as cities rock back and forthlike babiesin the palms of mountain ranges Paul Robert Mullen is a poet, musician and sociable loner from Liverpool, U.K. He has three published poetry collections: curse this blue raincoat (2017), testimony (2018), and Read More
i refuse to believe your lies
by Linda M. Crate so long i have seen myselfthrough the dirty lensof your eyes,but i am not not the villainyou made me out to be;and you are no victor or victimjust an insincere devil untruemasquerading as an angelperhaps you miss heavenbut you’ve fallen—you lamented once you used to knowwhat people wanted,but i think you forgot your soulwas gone along Read More
The Sky Is Also Blue
by Toni G. There’s a young lady in the corner, not so far from the dance floor, lost in the fantasy of what her first dance should be like and with whom. She waits with her head slightly bowed. Insecurity creates beads of sweat on her perfectly scrubbed and powdered skin. She looks down pretending to admire her new gown, Read More
Hate
by Alison McBain I used to say hate to people, objects possessions the dispossessing fragments of creativity changing sediments layers of years one by one pressed down upon one but most things are not bloody two-shoes flickers, horror movies ultimate the end most things are not to be hated most things lead perfect, pleasant tick-tock shelf-lives unseen unmoved unmoving not Read More
An Old Superstition
by Lannie Stabile When I cross a cemetery, I grip my breath like a rosary. I watch the tombstones blur,the iron fence galloping along. I finger the beads of my lungs until my chest pops. I try desperately to exorcise you. But the heart is weak and wispy. I release the imprisoned mistand breathe your ghost in again, as I Read More
Sleep and Jelly Beans
by Toni G. My boyfriend pops sleeping pills as if they’re jelly beans, sugar-coated candy with the only sinister intention being the rotting away of his teeth. I find him curled up on the floor in the bathroom most nights. Other times, he’s laid out in the laundry room or hallway. Once I found him on the elevator floor. He Read More
Makeover
by Lori Cramer Melinda decided her living room needed improvement, so she chose Colorado Rockies purple for the wall color and asked an old boyfriend to come over and paint. The vibrant violet hue exceeded her expectations, but something wasn’t quite right. Her old furniture clashed with the new color. She scoured the internet for a black velvet sectional sofa, Read More
Cement
“Phabian, they’ve already finished the foundation! Why won’t you celebrate with me?” “Because it’s unnatural, you can’t convince me otherwise.” “But Phabian, you agreed. You said you wanted to do this with me.” “No, Jennifer, I said that I loved you and that I’d do whatever would make you happy. At no time did I express a desire to build Read More
Sonnetype at dusk at graveside of young woman.
by Elisabeth Horan He who gives Me – taketh the Stone Eats the Loverslips – sways her Bones To magical heights – or was it a depth A lapse in heart pulse – or justified death A Man who touches such as this – hands Never take their leave, I part my Ocean Seas – I forge a New Iron Read More