Julie Bloss Kelsey

at the freshly dug grave
thinking only of myself
jumping in

— Julie Bloss Kelsey

after dinner

unbuttoning

his belly

— Julie Bloss Kelsey

Joshua St. Claire

red rhododendrons
throbbing in the deep woods
the Unseelie Court

— Joshua St. Claire

oyster knife

last light

entering the flesh

— Joshua St. Claire

Kimberly Kuchar

the first to find
his poisoned corpse—
blue bottle fly

— Kimberly Kuchar

Robin Smith

luminol
you light up
my life

— Robin Smith

Roberta Beach Jacobson

making
his evening funeral debut
archimime

— Roberta Beach Jacobson

Diane Funston

the full wheeze
of an accordion
his bad lungs

— Diane Funston

Jackie Chou

garden gate 
the lips of stone lions
begin to move

— Jackie Chou

John Hawkhead

funeral cortege meeting the deadline

— John Hawkhead

palls of mist

still caught in the chill

of her last breath

— John Hawkhead

Debarati Sen

funeral pyre
the body 
sits up straight

— Debarati Sen

Eavonka Ettinger

crop circles
on a child’s skin 
livestock brand

— Eavonka Ettinger

laughing as he steps

through body after body

a hiss of slow gas

— Eavonka Ettinger

Thomas Zimmerman

fat worm
where
your tongue once was

— Thomas Zimmerman

Hifsa Ashraf

creaky floor 
the ghost in my mind 
yawns

— Hifsa Ashraf

Barrie Levine

x-ray suite
        her bones slide off
the steel table

— Barrie Levine

Richard L. Matta

afternoon breeze
a windmill’s dark blade
slashes through me

— Richard L. Matta

Richard Witz

summer clouds
the corpse’s eyes
                         drift

— Richard Witz

Bryan Rickert

bloodletting you go

— Bryan Rickert

living alone

all my bookmarks

moved

— Bryan Rickert

Rich Schilling

hands of the clock
another turn
of the thumbscrews

— Rich Schilling

Mikael Kales

trimming the hedge
of the labyrinth
that smile

— Mikael Kales

DJ Tyrer

crow
Odin’s emissary
watching

— DJ Tyrer