Blog Archives

Seeking Seeds in the Flames

2/28/2019

Author

Bill Wolak has just published his fifteenth book of poetry entitled The Nakedness Defense with Ekstasis Editions. His collages have appeared recently in Naked in New Hope 2017, The 2017 Seattle Erotic Art Festival, Poetic Illusion, The Riverside Gallery, Hackensack, NJ, the 2018 Dirty Show in Detroit, and 2018 The Rochester Erotic Arts Festival.

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Black Night

2/25/2019

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In the whispering numbers,
the halting, faltering sun
spinning around earth as if
Galileo were wrong. For punishment
the drunk you live with.
The tree decorated,
gifts of Magi apportioned
beneath artificial boughs
laden with the ornaments
they gave you when you let go
of their menorah, stopped thinking
only One king could rule
a place fallen from where
birds come to perch. The juncos
control your ticker
though no snow falls here.
You can barely make out what it is
the marrow clings to
in order to cheat its bone.

Author

Judith Skillman’s recent books are Came Home to Winter, Deerbrook Editions, and
Premise of Light, Tebot Bach. The recipient of grants from organizations including the
Academy of American Poets; her poems have appeared in Seneca Review, Cimarron
Review, Zyzzyva, and other journals. Skillman is faculty member at Richard Hugo House
in Seattle, Washington.
Visit www.judithskillman.com

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Two Poems by Mark J. Mitchell

2/22/2019

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GHAZAL OF DISGUISE

Morning calls his name, handing him this task.
He drops his razor and slips on a mask.

She always turns her back on his old songs.
She’s memorized all his empty masks.

He faces her, firm as a fact—stiff and formal--
A rite. A mass. A dance without music. A masque.

She slides past him along their vacant hall,
stopping to kiss each aging, bloodless mask.

Soft blue air escapes from black light.
He pulls night to his skin—a taut and perfect mask.

Together they map out their flat steps.
She exits, leaving her mark on his mask.

NOSTALGIA OF A WORKNIGHT

She’s weary as an unused toy—unwrapped,
not touched. She’s not hidden but by herself
in back of a toybox, under the snapped
off arm of her last doll. She thinks a shelf
might be nice. She’d like to hear the soft click
as her nightlight went dark and slipped
into a sleep of girlhood. She’s just tired,
not asking kisses or a storybook.
The workday aches. She’d like someone to cook
for her. She wants warmth. She doesn’t need fire.

Author

Mark J. Mitchell’s novel, The Magic War appeared from Loose Leaves Publishing. He studied at Santa Cruz under Raymond Carver and George Hitchcock. His work appeared in several anthologies and hundreds of periodicals. He lives with his wife, Joan Juster making his living pointing out pretty things in San Francisco.
A meager online presence can be found at https://www.facebook.com/MarkJMitchellwriter/

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Art by Adam Levon Brown

2/20/2019

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Author

Adam Levon Brown is a poet, author, and recently delved into painting for fun.
He has been published hundreds of times in around 16 countries.

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Irregularities

2/19/2019

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potholes
budget line reconciliation
fence post placement
birth defects

the leaks in the water main
the lining on west main
the driver detained
the family named

mosquito whine
oil spot spread
blue mold on white
bread loaves, no fishes

any account of the sermon
any hem length shirt tail
any gloss smear cheek tatter
any facts of the matter

laughter
pepper shot shells
light through the sign
at the end of the gravel
cellular coverage

how cans crush
how tires shred
how towns die
how words mean
how truth folds
how men rock
how calves trot
how rocks heave

radio static
stains of sunset
who belongs here
who remains

Author

Heather Mydosh is a professor of English at Independence Community College and a recent graduate of the Stonecoast MFA Program at the University of Southern Maine. Her work has appeared in the Corvus Review, Midwest Quarterly, Kansas Time + Place, and Third Wednesday.

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Illness

2/14/2019

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With daises flayed into my skin,
The sky cries,
Just,
As I do.
Mascara tattoos its black ink stains,
On cheeks too warm to touch.
Slices of red appear suddenly
But don’t, leave so fast.
They sting,
And burn,
Where knife, touches flesh,
Broken skin stained vermilion.
Like a glass window,
A church on the prairie,
burnt down
In false faith.
Will you still love me
Or love me
at all,
In spite,
of me?

Author

Jordan Zachary is twenty years old and hails from Raleigh, North Carolina. She is a Junior at Warren Wilson College and works for the theatre on campus. She has been writing since she was in fourth grade, but only recently started dabbling in poetry.

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Seeking Seeds in the Flames

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Black Night

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Two Poems by Mark J. Mitchell

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Art by Adam Levon Brown

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Irregularities

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Illness

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