Poem

Edward St. James The nerves have long stretched outwards from my spineSudden noises and piles of paperwork stretching aboveAll while fascism grows and nightmares stand in a lineI dream of becoming a dove in a grove Sudden noises and piles of paperwork stretching aboveOnly daydreams can keep me moving forwardI dream of becoming a dove… Continue reading

Sam Hendrian At sunset on Sunset BoulevardWhen West Hollywood was waking upAn aspiring actress of 25Limped back to her studio apartment. Didn’t know she was poor‘Til she dropped her toothbrush on the groundAnd cursed in fearOf having to lose another two dollars. Ten days into sobriety so farWhich would have been an accomplishmentIf it hadn’t… Continue reading

Kim Whysall-Hammond We are a gate by which she enterswe accidental godswe must dance as fast as we can Fear cannot not take hold of uswe must be furioushold fast to life, to laughterto the birdsong that lifts our Sunto rain that waters and cleansesto clear streams and bright skies She is the ghost of… Continue reading

Audrey Howitt I watch footage when it’s available.White men in masks take you, and you go.What else can you do in a countrywhere you thought you could speak out? If I could,I would form keys from the fingers of your captors,I would cry on the spot they took you,I would pin your image, your name,… Continue reading

R.M. Carlson lost my faithmy anchormy purposebrokensoul stripped bareaching, grievingexposed, raw separated fromhypocrisyunchainedfrom thatwhich I do not believe just a little pridepeeks throughshoulders backchin uptime to be me I am righteous angerseeking justicedon’t look awaybear witness children starvingribs exposedsome kind of twistedtarget practice masked menunmarked carsfamilies takenin the night homeless removednowhere to gounhoused? a crimenow… Continue reading

Aubrey Phoenix Sometimes I am aware of our societal programming.I resist the mundane dance of living to work—Far too often, I feel the worm in my headinfluencing meto spend,to consume,to want—always wantingto have someone,to hold something,to be someone. Society is designedto make us wantand to always feel likewe can never have enough,we can never be… Continue reading

Rachel Armes-McLaughlin You drop bombstearing across skyblack bird of prey – I drop wordson page. I march,I demonstrate. Yet we hail fromsame coordinates, WhitemanAir Base – My father controlledyour airspace,controlled you. He is gone, but hiszeal for violencestill reignson the basewhere I was birthed. This poem was written in response to the June 22, 2025… Continue reading

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