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It was a birthday gift, sent alone the day before your heart leaves for a place that’s safer—a book on travel, what to listen for, by yourself in walls that let you look back while your shadow is taken away —it’s too soon! the ribbon is still splendid will spend the night the way a […]

The Strongest Love

Cliff Saunders has an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Arizona. His poems have appeared recently in The Wayne Literary Review, Pedestal Magazine, Wilderness House Literary Review, Pinyon, San Pedro River Review, North of Oxford, and RipRap Literary Journal. He lives in Myrtle Beach, where he serves as co-coordinator of The Litchfield Tea […]

Former Self Release

Jennifer Lothrigel is a poet and artist residing in the San Francisco Bay area. She has just published her first chapbook through Liquid Light Press, titled ‘Pneuma’. Her work has also been published in Arcturus, Deracine, Rag Queen Periodical, Poetry Quarterly, NILVX and elsewhere. Former Self Release She was feather drifting into the night. Her […]

Journal Entries from Jixian

Cameron Morse was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in 2014. With a 14.6 month life expectancy, he entered the Creative Writing Program at the University of Missouri—Kansas City and, in 2018, graduated with an M.F.A. His poems have been published in numerous magazines, including New Letters, Bridge Eight, Portland Review and South Dakota Review. His first poetry collection, Fall Risk, […]

A Little Squirrel

Patrick Theron Erickson, a resident of Garland, Texas, a Tree City, just south of Duck Creek, is a retired parish pastor put out to pasture himself. His work has appeared in Visitant, Grey Sparrow Journal, Tipton Poetry Journal, and The Main Street Rag, among other publications, and more recently in The Oddville Press, Vox Poetica, Adelaide Literary Magazine and Futures Trading. A Little […]

Cornfield Basketball

Mark Jackley‘s most recent book of poems is On the Edge of a Very Small Town. His work has appeared in Sugar House Review, Fifth Wednesday, Talking River, Timberline Review, and other journals. He lives in Purcellville, VA. Cornfield Basketball The muddy court is empty, the net hangs by a thread, flapping like the cornstalks […]

In Our Tinselled Cosmos

Christopher Barnes’ first collection LOVEBITES is published by Chanticleer. Each year he reads at Poetry Scotland’s Callender Poetry Weekend. He also writes art criticism which has been published in Peel and Combustus magazines. In Our Tinselled Cosmos An elephant Vosined herself Into a bleb. Floaty postures. The all-wise orbit Must creep through this. I final-whistle […]

An Occasional Waltz

Kort Ploshay grew up with a telephone party line, the local library, a slide rule (a slight improvement over the abacus) and the US Post Office for communication. Now he designs cutting edge enterprise software solutions for the United States Army. Kort was an active Bard from 1963 through 1975, singing folk songs, writing and […]

Meditation on White, Gray, Red and Black

Kyle Laws’ collections include This Town: Poems of Correspondence with Jared Smith (Liquid Light Press, 2017); So Bright to Blind (Five Oaks Press, 2015); Wildwood (Lummox Press, 2014); My Visions Are As Real As Your Movies, Joan of Arc Says to Rudolph Valentino (Dancing Girl Press, 2013); and George Sand’s Haiti (co-winner of Poetry West’s 2012 award). Faces of Fishing Creek is forthcoming in 2018 from Middle […]

House Without Mirrors

House Without Mirrors This house is fresh, unspoiled. I want to carve love’s initials in its walls, never lay a hard word against you. In this house, clean of memories, I could still be good to you. New floors, fresh paint, no chairs. [image: Erinn Hargis Photography]