Sue McBean Ice cold breasts.Misled by September sun,chilled at sea.Don protective layersat earliest perception of cold. From first sail I sensedMankind has always been at sea.I feel no fear,except performing Man Overboard drill.Alone. We edge forwardat pace of fast walking.Five knots from wind.Lifted another knot from tide behind.Blind except for sky messages,senses,instrument information,held by testimony… Continue reading

Joshua Walker I stub out one more cigarette,line it among the others like a row of soldiers—burned, blackened, but still proofthat I stood here, breathing smoke instead of silence. The world keeps breaking windows,keeps hammering nails into my wrists,but I light, I drag, I exhale,and in that small cloud I build a barricade. They call… Continue reading

Kerfe Roig She was weary of her fragile subsistence, of the looming andinevitable collapse of any scaffolding of support. The gatekeepersdistributed no methods of survival, only rampant indifference.Despair mingled with neglect. She floated on swirling waters thatnever seemed to drift towards any shore. Her solitude ached like adark tunnel too small to hold even the… Continue reading

Nicole Sara What is a promise, a dream?What is a hope or desire?What is a heart’s burning flamesetting all senseson fire? What is the mind’sadventureand which is the soul’s sweet ease?What if the life’s sole purposeis being caressed by the breeze… Do days always reach for remotenessand dawns always shine so divinecasting far chime over… Continue reading

Melissa Lemay it’s been three weeksi still haven’t changed the sheets on my bed,i’ve barely changed my clothes i wonder what was real,if i’m real,sitting in this apartment with this fake wood flooring and the linoleum tile with the diamonds on iti listen to the sound of water drippingeverything was wet i know my bedroom… Continue reading

Frank Johnson Now everybody’s staring at a screenit seems a simple fact of modern lifethat real life’s left for living in between. Sometimes despite the wonders of ITit looks less of a blessing than a blightwhen everybody’s staring at a screen for world-wide web can all too easily meanthere’s world-wide room for wrong as well… Continue reading

Brent Boeckman Standing in the shrapnel of a former world,despite the constant shore, failing and falling away.The call, heavy, carrying the dull, metallic scentof a fierce fight lost—the quiet ruin when every effort is given,yet the whole thing collapses. Underneath the chaos, the governing law revealed:a silent, binding contract signed decades ago,mandating the role as… Continue reading

Kate Bremer I took down the sparkle-lines–Severe drought, Red Flag warningsFor two trees, for Faeries, for Light;Fill up water bottles and charge devices. Severe drought, Red Flag conditions–Jacob’s Well has dried up.Fill water bottles and charge devicesWhere’s the manna, the talking cloud ? Jacob’s Well has dried upFor two trees, for Faeries, for Light–Where’s the… Continue reading

Paul Cannon When the insistentdull roar of theworld reachesmurderous crescendoin my body,its long knives piercing,I take my wounded selfalong bush pathsfolding into nature,just for my soul,spice under my tongue,I hear the musicality,see the intricatebrush strokes, feelevery sheaf of poetrythat flutters orrustles nearby,and slowly Icome back intomy body. Paul Cannon is a poet who contemplates the… Continue reading

Kim Whysall-Hammond Bury it deep, weepif you need. Plead with yourself. Elseyou lose your mind. Discover what you can do. Youare a fluttering bird, who once flew. Take joy in a friend, end your despair, airyour burdened soul. Rollwith the glorious world. Unfurl. Kim Whysall-Hammond is a Londoner who now lives in the English countryside.… Continue reading