Nichole Beard THE SATYR AND THE TRAVELER May 24, 2012

Mr. Adams had never been to San Francisco, but he’’d always longed to walk amongst the vibrantly painted ladies. After the tech conference, he walked back to his hotel. He’’d never been good at hailing cabs anyway. Just as well, he’’d have the evening to admire all the color. Mr. Adams loosened his tie and [...]

Ed Coonce THE ‘I’M NOT HUNGRY’ GAMES May 23, 2012

Brrrrring! Brrrrring! The office phone at East Hell Productions nearly vibrated off the desk. “Kat! Can you get that?” Bud Greenfiend was busy with his client, Donny Osmond, who had a huge growth on one ear that looked like another ear, giving him a very strange three-eared visual persona. He was sweaty and seemed pissed [...]

Keli C Bolin BONE May 22, 2012

a straight bone sticking from my food i choke on it and fall to the floor i feel there is no answer evermore, evermore my eyes roll, my eyes roll the veins are blue and red i can’t see, i can’t see i lie on the floor like a mop i twist and flail and [...]

R. Christophe Ryber LETHAL PASSION May 21, 2012

Through wood and thicket headlong, filled with dread You fly before me, from your lips a sigh Of terror, peril comes from whence you fled, My lethal passion you cannot defy. The trap is sprung, before me now you swoon, ‘Midst fallen leaves cocooned in night’s cold mist, Illumined prey beneath the pallid moon, Your [...]

Dawn Pisturino STARS FADE May 18, 2012

Time passes and then we’re gone A lump of clay once laughing, laughing no more Discarded to the open grave to feed a hungry earth A useless, lifeless thing Long-forgotten in the changing years But a simple name inscribed on stone Unrecognized in the awful pile Of crumbling clay and moldy dust. “And where is [...]

Neal Kemet WORLD CUP May 17, 2012

I was on my new chair in our living room when Jane and Alfred came. Kerrie brought us coffee and cookies, and we chatted about everything. The guests said my chair looked richer and more sophisticated than the previous one. “You seem bonded with it,” said Jane, and she was right. We watched together a [...]

Davide Nixon IN THE CHIMNEY May 16, 2012

I was once friends with a girl She told me that she lived in a terrible place A haunted place I laughed at her I told her that she was a girl And girls usually got afraid of nothing And everything She looked at me intensely She then told me to stay in her room [...]

Ilya Prints THE MINUTES AND THE YEARS May 15, 2012

I’m sitting at a computer. Outside, on the street – a light-blue sky and chilly trees wave their bare branches. And the melody of the eternal movement of life, Sunrise-Sunset. It makes me sort of sad, but, nevertheless, it’s good. Worries and anxieties are somewhere on the sidelines. Ahead is a new year, but why [...]

D.W. Hey MANEARTHDOG, PEERING AT A WEED May 14, 2012

manearthdog, peering at a weed, asked himself   When will I amount to something?       (It should be noted that there were many flowers. Some, he had planted   others had simply appeared brightly   on their own)       He had an epiphany:     There is an algebra of acceptance [...]

Cheri Anne ALL REDS AND BLACKS May 11, 2012

ALL REDS AND BLACKS Queen of Hearts, Ace of Spades, fluttering around the wastebasket, like butterflies or bluebirds, or as autumn leaves. Flicking them, all reds and blacks, from the edge of bed, swathed in silence, lullabied by rain. A cigarette smolders, on a clay pot, growing cold, upon an antique dresser, beside a colder [...]