Rooming House by Wayne F. Burke

In my rooming house room with wallpaper of a nautical theme, I went out with the tide and returned sodden and wrote poetry and prose inside my head: I had a chair and a bed a linoleum floor a refrigerator for my beer; when drunk I made speeches to the walls and fought the cupboard…

Safe Haven by Michelle Ayon – Navajas

the spattering and splashing of the waves from the ocean striking and surging, every movement is like the rushing and rustling mess in my head, comes back bigger and greater with every descent and as i lay my head unto your chest i listened carefully to the silent beating of your heart i am in…

Eye Nails by Bogdan Dragos

dreaming of being tied to some boulder with chains then the face gets covered by a heavy mask and iron nails get hammered through the thing’s eyeholes and into the bearer’s eyes they’ve got hooks at the other ends to make sure the mask doesn’t slide off It holds together so well it’s perfect when…

Fashion, Comfort and Cash by Don Matthews

I gotta wear the latest Latest coolest jeans Branded JonnyJumpup 300 and 15 I travelled all the op shops Found a pair of jeans Brand was gone, all faded 10 dollars and 15 So which of these two, people Fashion-wise, is cool? The three fifteen or ten fifteen? What is the guiding rule? Wear what…

Goodbye MasticadoresIndia! A Beautiful Journey Comes to an End.

We often say goodbye to only say hello again. Life can be termed as a limitless journey where situations often end so that newer ones can come into being. As the editor of MasticadoresIndia I had announced the birth of the online publication in September 2021, and with much excitement and joy had hoped to…

Echoes of Inheritance by Bharath Upendra

I carry my father’s dreams in my mind, mother’s in my heart and mine under my feet.  I lift one foot up and stamp another down; that’s how life has been.  One hand stretches out for help, the other holds it down for hope is something I’ve never known and I mask my desperation with…

Illusions Speak by Jeff Flesch

There is more to life than is seen illusions speak in tongues, and in dreams — casting hope towards the sky we collect particulars of dust from stars when they cry tears from underneath the depth of the unseen and the rest of the textiles sowed into our heart seams -JEFF FLESCH Jeff Flesch lives…

I Was Once a Drug Lord by Nigel Byng

“Hi Jimmy.” Her voice rang in my one good ear. Sweet Jesus, she had seen me, and there was no avoiding her now. I waved and walked to her counter. “I came to renew my license.” “You could have done it online, Jimmy.” Charmaine peered at me from over the top of her glasses. I…

Two Disowned Souls by Bogdan Dragos

those were some seriously tired eyes Some people are just born with them It’s not a matter of getting enough sleep The tiredness is in the soul itself He looked forty though he was twenty-two and as she told her friends (with the family she didn’t talk) she found him in a bar, passed out…

Winds of Sorrow by Michael L. Utley

My beloved kiku lay in withered waste Yet their ivory tears still fall Drift against the sides of my heart Winter’s woeful weeping In the northernmost climes The bitter wind howls in my soul Frigid lamentations haunt me Hokkaido’s kanashimi no kaze Winds of sorrow have frozen me in place My mind flees on grey…

Twenty-Five Cents by Joni Caggiano

Long John Silvers was one of my first jobs in high school.  Riding my bike on Saturday, hungry, smelly, and with jeans that hugged my thin frame to the point of being naughty, I went inside.  The sign on the door said, “Help Needed.”    All the high schoolers went there to eat lunch because it…

Four Seasons for New England by Tony Ashenden

In the season that is master of Magic From the brown fist where daffodils twist Deva’s who die are restlessly born Earth fire is formed and warms the dry stick The first cause that is last has begun When the bulb bursts into glorious bud In the sloughing of the skin, I am born Many…

Three years’ worth of love by Britta Benson

three years’ worth of love… the complicity of grace, the memory of habits, the sleeping trace of time, the ferocity of first, last, again, never love, a word, a corpse, a temper, a knife in her throat -BRITTA BENSON Britta Benson is a happiness & poetry blogging, circus skills instructing & common butterfly following German,…

The Stew by Jay Maria Simpson

I smear the pot of stock and stew with mouldy turgid residue from half-filled bottles, dusty vessels of leftover infidelities angers, desires, gluttonies honey jars sweeten temptation retribution is revitalised blended deglazed reconstituted break the bread wash it through the boiling stew that spreads its gelatinous entrails into a sacrificial meal just for me and…

It’s just normal in dreams by Bogdan Dragos

“Yeah,” she said, “my father was not the friendliest drunk in the neighborhood and he’s definitely not missed now that he no longer troubles anyone. But you know, I did learn something from him, alright.” Listening to her words, he poured another glass for himself and then one for her. “What could you learn from…

“Wake Her Up!” by Karima Hoisan

Like an actual Sleeping Beauty, asleep in the forest of her dreams, her life and the birds outside keeping that girl dreaming a singular dream, there was a prince who came one night, kissed her lips too soon it seems, who perhaps sensed that no future would ever bring them together, no scenes were written…