by Justin Karcher More poems about Cowboy Bebop. More poems about Red Bull, but the sugar free kind, cuz the 7-Eleven u go to was out of the regular kind & ur kinda addicted to the idea of having wings… even if those wings aren’t as sweet as they should be, cuz it’s so fuckin’ nice to fly over all Read More
Tag: mental health
Sea gods self-soothe
by Ankh Spice Tangaroa’s belly flattens, swellsinto the bright blade. Light honed by a creeping moonis the sharpest of all light, slipped glass ruptures him – quickening mercurybeads through cold ink. At his edges, silvered waves break, and breakagain – this is the nature of waves – but to shush, shush yourself calm, knowingthe shattering will go on until even Read More
Why Don’t You Do Something About That Pain
by James Diaz I’m the kind of secret no one knew how to keeppain pine and deep, I was wintry redlotto scratch off’s walkin’ along the highway wishin’ I knew what life on the other sideevery kind of other side – was really like then I drifted in my head for years and yearswent to war with voices that were mine mine mine took Read More
Group therapy for clever crabs
by Ankh Spice There were no windows and we spoke of home as therapy – those who had tongues not yet unhooked by their dosage Mrs Jesus sang, predictably– Ave, ave, the roasting flare of the sacred heart the warmest hearth – her rosarychattering DT-teeth in time with our rolling eyes Quiet Joni said nothing, but beyond her starved-skull-smile a Read More
This Election
by Peggy Landsman The stress I feel from this electionaffects my mind and my midsection. I read the news as vivisectionand no disease escapes detection. There’s never been a worse selectionof demagogues, the Trump collection, for public office whose rejectionwe must vote for this election. Peggy Landsman is the author of a poetry chapbook, To-wit To-woo (Foothills Publishing). Her work Read More
The Art of Self-Acceptance
by Rohan Sharma Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.― Lao Tzu The twenty-three months I spent at PICC forced me to grow in many ways. Many of the lessons I learned came not Read More
Spider in the Storm
by Rohan Sharma If you have never reached rock bottom, you have never attended the school of greatness.― Matshona Dhliwayo Spending time in what is known as the “suicide wing” (back in the jail next door known as DC) was an altogether different experience. They only opened the door for five minutes every morning to converse with the psychiatrist, to Read More
You Can’t Be Truly Happy On Tuesdays
by Mileva Anastasiadou I’d hate Tuesdays if it weren’t for you. Tuesdays are boring until five, when you arrive. Mom thinks I deserve better, yet mom doesn’t count, for that’s what moms always say. The clock’s ticking, she’ll say next, which doesn’t sound as threatening as she’d like, as what comes to mind is that huge clock on the wall, 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
Cellophane Ghosts
by Amanda McLeod Dead jellyfish float transparent in the void below my rib cage, invisible echoes of unforgotten pain. Ghostly tentacles, trailing translucent threads of agony against my lungs, my heart, drinking my oxygen, taking up space left for breathing, diaphanous, penetrating. I wrap myself in this cellophane, unseen suffocation, extra gloss doesn’t hide suffering but shows no cause. Amanda Read More