Stella Pierides

sweet smell drifting out
of the hospice window…
long nights

— Stella Pierides

still dark…

blood seeps into

the mattress

— Stella Pierides

Mark Meyer

grandmother’s ring —
within the amethyst
someone watching

— Mark Meyer

Joshua St. Claire

the skull
under the skin
windowless room

— Joshua St. Claire

soiled linen the restraints

— Joshua St. Claire

Chad Lee Robinson

reading by its own 
pale light
little ghost 

— Chad Lee Robinson

solar eclipse

the scarecrow walking

in the farmer’s body

— Chad Lee Robinson

Jenn Ryan-Jauregui

trailing behind
the bone collector
our missing teeth

— Jenn Ryan-Jauregui

last rites

escaping with a whoosh

my held breath

— Jenn Ryan-Jauregui

Greg Schwartz

root cellar
the voices
take hold

— Greg Schwartz

the

crunch

of

dead

leaves

scarecrow

— Greg Schwartz

David Cox

vampire erotica
turning over the page
to her new life

— David Cox

Nicholas De Marino

fresh coat of paint
on the misses
good as new

— Nicholas De Marino

Barrie Levine

midnight sun 

the garden  

grows you

— Barrie Levine

Kelly Sargent

splitting the pomegranate 
our last words
before her attempt

— Kelly Sargent

radiation frost —

the winter

we flatline

— Kelly Sargent

Albert Schlaht

jasmine vapors
rise above the moor
twitching fingers

— Albert Schlaht

having landed

     a crow tilts its head

          towards the body

— Albert Schlaht

Jerome Berglund

common bluebell
capillaries on the face 
burst

— Jerome Berglund

Alper Ghuchlu

new buds
flowers
with teeth

— Alper Ghuchlu

John H. Dromey

bite the bullet train

— John H. Dromey

Martina Matijević

stacked wood 
sticking out 
a softer stump 

— Martina Matijević

Randy Brooks

photos of our kitty
who died last night
all of us so young

— Randy Brooks

propped her back up

on the piano

memorial portrait

— Randy Brooks

Kelly Sauvage Moyer

scrawled sigils
the silence
you should have kept

— Kelly Sauvage Moyer

stick figures . . .

she draws her little brother

in a puddle of red

— Kelly Sauvage Moyer

Jackie Chou

blood sunrise
awaking to the prick
of her syringe 

— Jackie Chou

sliced lotus roots

a hundred sockets

without eyes

— Jackie Chou

Roberta Beach Jacobson

other people
but now
it’s us

— Roberta Beach Jacobson

Kirsten Cliff Elliot

long haul flight
this gaping wound
of turbulent sky

— Kirsten Cliff Elliot

spontaneous combustion

the black cat remains

at her feet

— Kirsten Cliff Elliot