The Cactus by Zack Kopp

EDDIE HAD TO perform all these community service duties before they would let him off probation after burning down the Homes for Disabled Kids. They had him judging the talent contest at Youthvale Community Center now, and that was one of the band names on the list they gave him, Albinos Born Today. They had …

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2 poems by Jonathan S Baker

The first bit of Trump’s second term as a dream after a spicy late night snack with a glass of milk. I’m an adult, I’m back in the home I grew up in. The place that doesn’t exist anymore and everyone remembers differently. Outside the yard is overgrown and filled with signs, written insults directed …

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Exile, Dystopia, etc. by Ben Nardolilli

Exile, Dystopia, etc. Latest reports seem to say I’m out of control, But I’m not even out of bed, Could it be a concern with what I’m saying To myself, by myself? But I can’t believe these walls are really that thin, Or my indoor voice is really that loud Maybe they’re hearing the mattress …

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Breaking Free by Heather Kays

Breaking Free I moved across the country to leave you behind, To break free of your bullshit, And I’ve never felt better. In the quiet of my new life, I’m reclaiming everything I lost and had not found, Every breath unburdened by your darkness. But if our paths cross again, If you somehow find your …

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2 poems by Nancy Patrice Davenport

Ex-Lovers and Kittens #1 it’s another Sunday in January the devil is beating his wife rain falls on sunny bricks I am still drunk from last night the hangover is for now, postponed as I wander           half-awake questioning introspection the earth is for now washed clean in dull grey-green Diebenkorn shades the eaves are filled …

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2 poems by Catherine Zickgraf

This is the Path that Leads to Hell We wrap ourselves in a death spiral. The water cycle is off track, depths of God’s wrath part clouds, cough chariot dust down his mountains. I see into you. We can’t unscrew ourselves after all these afternoons we twist vines, spin satellites around planets around lost tea …

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THE POLISH HAMMER POETRY CORNER: Splitting Heirs by Karl Koweski

Splitting Heirs It occurs to me, probably more often than it should, that I have yet to see my twenty-two-year-old son in the company of a female. His life is his own, of course, to do with as he sees fit, but I see a lot of me in a lot of him. So, why …

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2 poems by Wayne Mason

Wayne Mason is a writer and sound artist from central Florida USA. He is the author of several chapbooks of poetry and experimental prose. A product of his working class surroundings, Mason is as influenced by machines and industrial landscapes as much as he is the cut-up method and deconstruction. He has used these as …

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The Last Real Poet by R.M. Engelhardt

THE LAST REAL POET The last real poet Sits alone by himself Somewhere in a cabin In Upstate NY Around the age of 95 Still alive   But they all forgot about him Years Ago The prizes The many lives many Loves he had once   His memory fades From time to time Unsure if …

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2 poems by Ryan Quinn Flanagan

Potato Man I am descended from a long line of Irish peasants, potato farmers to be more exact, working the land for English plantation owners. One peasant hooked up with the master’s daughter, the master giving his daughter an ultimatum. She chose the Irish peasant, and they were both banished to the new world. And …

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