Michael Nickels-Wisdom

leaf like 
a dead hand fallen 
upon a shoulder

— Michael Nickels-Wisdom

Barbara Anna Gaiardoni

crescent-shaped scars an epidemic

— Barbara Anna Gaiardoni

C.X.Turner

midnight kitchen
the whisper of knives
just before I turn

— C.X.Turner

ghost town

the wild instinct

to survive

— C.X.Turner

Tracy Davidson

a matador’s scream 
the ghosts of all the bulls 
he slaughtered

— Tracy Davidson

Kelly Sauvage Moyer

ruby necklace
the slow trickle
of her blood

— Kelly Sauvage Moyer

young harvest

a ripple

in the moonwater

— Kelly Sauvage Moyer

David Cox

evening meal 
I share the sun room 
with a mosquito

— David Cox

Richard L. Matta

blood flowers
a monarch’s long sip
from a vein

— Richard L. Matta

John Hawkhead

raven hour 
a creak in the limbs
of the hanging tree

— John Hawkhead

drop-off point

at the bus station

missing posters

— John Hawkhead

Joshua St. Claire

molten gold
all the fingers
in my mouth

— Joshua St. Claire

footsteps that stop

when mine stop

yellow eye moon

— Joshua St. Claire

Jackie Chou

ikebana show
the people-eating flower
opens its petals

— Jackie Chou

David C. Kopaska-Merkel

canopic jars
Pharaoh fumbles
for his heart

— David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Rich Schilling

floodwater
the creek damned
with coffins

— Rich Schilling

the first crack in the coffin flies

— Rich Schilling

Anne Fox

digital footprint...
in the basement
flesh and blood

— Anne Fox

Jerome Berglund

a drink 
someone else made 
down the hatch . . . 

— Jerome Berglund

tonight no one

has their lights on

leaf crunch

— Jerome Berglund

Mariel Herbert

harvest fest
in the tallest grass
lost ring finger

— Mariel Herbert

Tuyet Van Do

rocking
in the front verandah
an empty chair

— Tuyet Van Do

Roberta Beach Jacobson

silencing the screams duct tape

— Roberta Beach Jacobson

Kelly Sargent

mud leeches 
the secrets we take
to the grave

— Kelly Sargent

Sharon Ferrante

another fly
softening 
the bones

— Sharon Ferrante

Bryan Rickert

reunion dinner the shrunken head of the family

— Bryan Rickert

hatching–

the egg she laid

inside of me

— Bryan Rickert

Chad Lee Robinson

black henbane 
a wind chime 
of bird bones

— Chad Lee Robinson

candlelit walk

the inner sanctum

of crows

— Chad Lee Robinson

Katherine E Winnick

lunar eclipse...
her shadow self
comes to the fore

— Katherine E Winnick

ghost butterfly lavender speaks her language

— Katherine E Winnick