snail by Jennifer Choi

ten thousand teeth gnaw at the red-stained iron gate,
as the sunlight fades into evening,
the red glow spills across the house,
& the dark shadow follows.

a pot on the balcony, its name erased,
inside, empty & still,
snails hide beneath the dust-covered soil.

as darkness settles,
the snails push through their shells,
ivory-colored heads emerging,
sliding across the balcony tiles,
searching for the moonlight that will soon slip in.

soon, the thick darkness presses down on me like drunkenness,
the damp breath that torments me in the pitch black,
& the twisted curses from my father.

i crawl under the blankets,
curling my legs up to my chest,
hidden in the soft folds,
like an ivory snail.

grief leaves its trace on my cheek,
the dampness on my face.
i lift my hand to wipe it away.
will there be traces left where i've crawled?

again today, the house turns red.
i peek out from the blankets,
leaving long shadows on the red light as i crawl,
over the iron gate,
searching for the moonlight
that will still shine even as darkness spreads around me.

--

Jennifer Choi is a passionate high school student. Her work has previously been published or is forthcoming in Incandescent Review, Altered Reality Magazine, Academy of Heart and Mind, and Culterate Magazine among others.

A Caribbean Spring by Linette Rabsatt

just another cool day
or maybe tepid
rain and sunlight play
as we search for shade
or a covering
while we admire
the blossoms
promises of succulence
the heartbeat of
Caribbean excellence
the warmer the weather
the sweeter the outcome

--

Linette Rabsatt is a Virgin Islands poet with roots in the BVI and USVI who began writing in 1996. You can find her work in her Kindle book, "Be Inspired: Poems by Linette Rabsatt," in Pulse Poetry Magazine, on her blog, Words of Ribbon, and on the Visual Verse and Micromance Magazine websites.

In My Will by Michael Lee Johnson

In my will, there will be a pinball machine.
A renovated jukebox from American Pickers,
a cable TV show. For the taverns, bars,
and basements of fun seekers for those
who long to be free and ferocious.
I no longer fear death.
Empty vodka bottle by my bed.
A dusty Bible underlined
Jesus’ messages
in red.

--

Michael Lee Johnson is a poet of high acclaim, with his work published in 46 countries or republics. He is also a song lyricist with several published poetry books. His talent has been recognized with 7 Pushcart Prize nominations and 7 Best of the Net nominations. He has over 653 published poems. His 330-plus YouTube poetry videos are a testament to his skill and dedication. He is a proud member of the Illinois State Poetry Society: http://www.illinoispoets.org/.

And Why Not? by DK Jammin’

Our sex still makes me smile,
And why not?
Upwards it goes,
A lifting, fragrant smoke that soothes,
And there is so much more pleasure
In that soothing
Because it’s just me;
It’s just you.

And Him, of course.
One highly aroused
Spectrasexual God and/or Goddess.

We are spitted and turned
Over Her aching wildfires,
Her be-with-Me-baby blazes,
But that just means
All pretense is toast,
All falseness crisped.
It truly is me;
It truly is you.

And Her, of course.
Our sex still makes Her smile.
And why not?

--

DK is the Supervisor of The Words Department at Center of The Golden One in Denver, Colorado. He is 73 years old and has been a Dad, playwright, lawyer, and a psychotherapist, but recently he has been inhabited with the muse of poetry and cannot stop writing. His poetry publishing credits include Macrame Literary Journal, The Accendo Review, Metempsychosis Journal, Soul Poetry, and Enkidu.

Under Painted Grace by Michael Roque

Impoverished child—
for nickels, dimes—
bought by beauty.
Taught grace,
not from love—
but life confined.

Glamour-touched teen—
trained to speak—
to walk
for lust-filled eyes.
Stripped of name,
wrapped in robes,
to the highest bidding price—
child purity sold.

Woman fully realized—
through fog of an aged mind—
drifts upstream
from cherry-colored Kyoto
to childhood slum
on a seaside,
the missing sister,
the parents long passed.
All gone—
without goodbye.

--

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Michael Roque discovered his love for poetry and prose amid friends on the bleachers of Pasadena City College. Now he currently lives in the Middle East and is being inspired by the world around him. His poems have been published by literary magazines like Cholla Needles, The New Yorker, The Literary Hatchet and others. https://www.instagram.com/roquewrites2009/

Malpractice by Jerome Berglund

rifling through entrails nose lights up... malpractice

--

Jerome Berglund has worked as everything from dishwasher to paralegal, night watchman to assembler of heart valves. Many haiku, haiga and haibun he’s written have been exhibited or are forthcoming online and in print, most recently in bottle rockets, Frogpond, Kingfisher, and Presence. His most recent collection of poetry "Eleusinian Solutions" was recently released by Mōtus Audāx press!

I Dared You by Casey Renee Kiser

Dracula's got nothin' on You
Embrace of the vampire
like my name was Alyssa
I came right to You on command
in the middle of the night
and I dared You
to put a spell on me

so I could break it; reshape it
and re-gift it. Sorry, I was all out
of bows and ribbons. Just maybe,
I dared You
to hack my heaven, blacken me,
drag me through your hell
and your red flag-labyrinth of shit
My soul doesn't own any
white flags. I don't wave and glitch
and flop like the other fish out of water
I could really rip out your bored fangs
with my bolt-cutting
words. And You did it...
You drained me
with your double life-kink
Yes, I got what I asked for
I'm a poet so,
I wasn't born a good girl;
Born to dig the coffin boys
and You didn't disappoint
so I could wake up the next day
more like You, but

not quite. I was now a daywalker
nightclubbing inside my daydreaming
about the curse and the blessing
and how we must experience
both sides. I forgive You
for thinking
You could have my heart
all for yourself, as I dared You

because You never chose truth.

--

Casey Renee Kiser is a punk poet with a horror-quirk-twist. Her new release Altered States of The Unflinching Souls with fellow indie poet, J. J. Campbell is due out late Summer 2024, and Confessions of A D3AD Petal early Spring 2025. She runs a small independent press in Kentucky.