by Sam Smiley Rosy cheeks and bubbly thoughtsfloating up to the heavens and out of our headsbefore we can elaborate.Our tongues are tied in knots;I giggle when your words escape you.Parched lips wake at fourlonging to be quenchedhazy brainhazy eyeshazy headI sway like there is music playingthat only I can hear.I am here and hot … Continue reading Liquid Knowledge
for Mel & Barbara I unburden for a second. hear faint whispering my shame: did you transgress, son? transparency, let your eyes communicate empathy, a sea. we don’t keep secrets. we take our mind out into precipice. see—manzanita and poison oak scattered along this ridge dominating the undergrowth and break within these unclimbed boulders and … Continue reading Mt. Woodson Trail by Shawn Anto
by John Grey In this rescue of a dream, the door’s flung open, all guards are fast asleep, there’s light at the end of the corridor, stairs leading up to the world, friends waiting with a fresh horse, a splendid gallop into the highlands, through the mountain pass, and into the euphoric land of my … Continue reading False Liberation
by Shawn Anto hummingbirds like to drink from the trumpet-shaped flowers. and the buzzing bees like the broad flat flowers like the marigold. they drink and wallow ‘til they are covered all over with nectar. you follow a bee from one flower to the next, see which direction they go, eventually, finding its home. the … Continue reading Stun
by Sidra Owens I was raised by a single mother, who was born in the midst of Jim Crow, and she has seen whites-only signs. She has witnessed the rise of the Civil Rights movement. She has vivid memories of where she was when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President John F. Kennedy, and Robert … Continue reading The Strange Fruit of Living While Black
by Sidra Owens Elections have consequences. That is more than just a quote from a former president. It is an absolute truth that we are dealing with daily. Trump is the current president, and he is the current president for just a few reasons. Trump’s own racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic idiocy appeals to the lowest … Continue reading Our Ignorance Fuels Their Victories
by Stephen Jackson Lance was born in the pale, a drift of seed &&&&could pass through that flesh, a twist of ivy’d &&&&&&&&&be a gift to bones so frail. Veins blued out in the crux of an elbow, spine puzzle-pieced &&&&from neck to tailbone, sun’d catch his skin &&&&&&&&the way a ship’s sail catches wind. … Continue reading Remembering Lance
by Anushka Bidani i. how terrifyingloneliness can feellike a dumb mouth shaping wordsinto an empty void. ifold papers intro cranes, setthem on the table, waitingfor guests that never arriveon time. ii. how terrifyingdiscomfiture can feellike acid in your blood burningyou from the inside-out. ispeak a little less, tracingpatterns on painfully softunscarred flesh. iii. how terrifyingliving … Continue reading Little Bird
by Stephen Jackson He is most certainly not the line stretched taut for clothes from back porch to telephone pole in a scorch of August tar-melt gripping wood and rusty hook— a perch for two black birds. He may be, however, the thought of it—everything hanging slack in this heat, he is more or less … Continue reading Michael | Stoned
by Daniel Hotham I’ll pass through June on a sled Splayed out while light fragments break through a lazy fog. My mind gets shot for a while So I don’t know what any of the lights might mean Maybe I’ll catch a few looks at the sun for a few hours It’s just a question … Continue reading The Deluxe Angels
Dream Noir 