Leatherface by Bogdan Dragos

no, despite what I wanted to believe for the sake of fantasy merging with reality she was not the infamous killer Leatherface She was just an ordinary girl holding a human face with a bit of hair It was clearly something very precious to her “The only thing I have left from my father,” she…

Numberplate Applications by Don Matthews

Real numberplate applications received by the Adelaide Transport Department My rear end is expansive My top is rather sparse I want to numberplate my car Stand out, say BIGARSE Rejected… Wot?… I haven’t had no luck in love My love-life’s in a mess I wanna numberplate my car ZEROFKS Rejected… FFS…. My name is ‘Porky’…

Reflections by Bharath Upendra

I don’t call it death, that irreversible cessation; it’s rather a transition – not from one world to another but from an individual, independent consciousness to the collective – from the physical to abstract, from words to feelings – from memory to experience. Transcendence is what I crave, not an afterlife, not eternity for all…

Broken Things by Jeff Flesch

I like broken things the way they crumble in my hands and, the way they left for a time during last Autumns’ dance these memories are of promises made under a tree bearing a broken heart for a name -JEFF FLESCH Jeff Flesch lives in Corvallis, Oregon, and was voted the 2022 Spillwords Press Author…

Us by Joni Caggiano

whisper softly in my tender ear as shadows of memories linger near fire crackles, tender our love forever soft heat rising, warms up swiftly our bedroom loft laughter sparks seedlings of love with ageless years sometimes sorrow invades mixing dialog with liberating tears reassuring each other of a commitment so long ago, we grow old…

Soul Cells by Bogdan Dragos

I can see it clearly even though the napkin is folded and crumpled around the small things it covers, I can see on it a drawing of a dragon with flowers for horns it pokes its forked tongue at me and winks also its eyes have long lashes “You listening?” she says shaking the fist…

Thus the Evening’s Stillness Deepens by Michael L. Utley

I don’t want to break the peaceful stillness of this winter evening as the gloaming deepens and the shadows freeze upon the hills I don’t want to leave my footprints on the pristine frozen fields where the haggard cornstalks gather contemplating harvests past I don’t want to burden forests slumbering in hiemal stasis dreaming of…

Last Testament of an AK-74 by Tony Ashenden

Lay me down, half boy half man,                   lay me down, I’m hot.                        Burning your hands, I am,                  lay me down, I’m shot.                                   The next round won’t fire.                  Warning you, my fresh-faced keeper             you am wanted by the Reaper.                     Would have liked to be a plough,      would have made good,                                 turning earth, here and…

The Art Room by Shobana Gomes

Of what do you make of the atelier, The one that I have filled with brushes and paint, the colors do add to a painted ensemble, of ruses and misgivings, beauty and shadows, of tilting landscapes and landmarks of yore. I once asked him the name given to a medieval room that locked artisans in,…

Tendernesses by Britta Benson

Trust, pointing north, where cold truth meets belief and that big fat lie: your mask. Your version, so convenient. This pretty, perfect ease slips off my face. We forget. Trust. Where do we go from here? Where do we even look? The wolf moon marks the new year. I feel your steady heart beat in…

Too Good at Dreaming by Bogdan Dragos

the maggots are never dirty even though they live in filth their whiteness remains immaculate somehow They reach out and emerge wiggling from the rotten flesh. Either searching for the meaning of life or offering an answer to it It was hard to decide watching them from above but the younger the eye, the blinder…

The Wanderer by Joni Caggiano

deadly this script intuit of rapture caresses senses my lover, buds sprout from pores you touch me like strings on a violin ardent hunger throbs climbing the peak we meet yet again like feeding pigeons my spirit, my heart once again torn apart fodder for your ego why do you appear again, to taunt me…

I’m Gonna Build a Revolving Restaurant in the Basement by Don Matthews

I have this idea (light bulb) Revolving restaurant I’m gonna build it in the basement Patrons I know, will want Going round in circles Admiring concrete views Concrete in its different shades In its varied hues It’s gonna be a winner No competition, so I’m sure the patrons will flock in As concrete round they…

Good – Goodbye by Bharath Upendra

The graveyard I put myself to sleep in is as cosy as ever, without ever having to waste any second missing the sheets you let me sleep on, wrinkling my skin with nightmares of our lives. The silence that echoes in between my ears numbs the pain that courses through my blood. There are moments…

Mountains Form by Jeff Flesch

I rest easy in the long, and the short of the mountains form a symbol of strength, and of change releasing osmosis upon the world above, and below a cascading river of love and of ambiguity, both of which you and I already know -JEFF FLESCH Jeff Flesch lives in Corvallis, Oregon, and was voted…

Weaponized Complexions by Nigel Byng

It is so disingenuous it’s strenuous, the Animus that comes at us The history of lies that fly, from the lips of these animals. Propaganda of the antebellum, an act of benevolence, and good for them Pure evil in its conception they weaponized our complexion In regulated doses, they opiate the masses With the medicine…