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
Tag: poetry
Puncture Wounds
by Amanda McLeod You punch me full of holes and watch the life drain out until I am empty of anything that might be called happiness or love Darkness thick like dried bruises under my skin solidifies into flint hard, unmoving yet from the striking of me comes a shower of sparks a flame a sun I tear the holes Read More
Potential
by JD DeHart You saw a promise in me blooming. What was I to others? A dingy doorknob, too rusted to turn, a child of dirt and swear words. A twisted creature full of uncertain history, crying out from the side of the tracks no one wanted to see. No, I was a child of the mountains, birthed from natural Read More
Poem in which everything turns into plants and fungi
by Alex Page It starts with moss breaking through potholes, cress settling on cracks in walls. You go to bed and wake up on a giant mushroom. Your car is still metal, so you go to your barista job, discovering the coffee beans have sprouted into a jungle, pollen billowing in air painted the pastel yellow of summer dresses. Someone Read More
Righteous
by Gale Acuff After Sunday School I walk the long mile home, full of God for another week and the memory of Miss Hooker to last just barely that long. I’ll see her again in seven days, walk to church and it won’t seem so far as it is coming back. I love her and want to marry her but Read More
The Artist Studies the Effect of Sadness on Her Own Face
by Amanda McLeod Sadness changes the shape of my face Lines of happiness get redrawn in a different direction with a heavy pencil that only pulls down Eyes have their sparkle erased Hooded shields appear puffy, and the corners are tugged at by a memory that once, things were better Fine traces of watercolour tears stain my skin a different Read More
Why Are You So Skinny?
by Lamar Neal I once thought my body was hideous, Filled with reminders why no one called me their own. At such a tender age, I lived envious Broken that puberty was my curse and others’ milestone. I couldn’t understand why God Didn’t give me a reason to hold my head high. The only time people were awed By my Read More
Truncated
by JD DeHart Cut short, brought low, chopped down to size. The ornament, packaged, wants to burst free. All your life you can depend on the boost of others. We stand on the shoulders of giants, they say, but who knows about the existence of giants. They are only as real as the centaurs living down the street. JD DeHart Read More
Sentimental Passing
by Lamar Neal Last night, I had a dream that my mother died And I woke in a cold sweat awaiting her voice. As I awaited for her to answer my calls, I cried Unsure how I would live if God made his choice. In that moment, life itself became surreal And every fairy tale proved itself as fake. Though Read More