Tag: poetry
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“PGH / Capitalism / Aimless 10.29.19” by James Croal Jackson
Don’t Die refractions on a shadow still the boom mic lingers overhead / birthday candle lit in the dough of Hofbrauhaus pretzel white / purse of gold in a Fogo de Chau group / illusions you with wealth / blue yellow balloons framing the window at Pitt dandelions beneath the barbed wire public / I’ll…
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Two Poems by Daniel Ruefman
Don’t Die Encased, like bugs in amber, the lilac buds are suspended in glass cocoons; hoarfrost spikes the sign posts as the plows dump three feet of packed powder where our driveway meets the road; spring snow is heart attack season, or so my wife says, handing me my gloves; it’s what got Gary last…
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Four Poems by Lily Kosmicki
The Eternal Birthday she is turning 7, indefinitely reoccurring dusty pink paint coats the walls the pastels of southwestern wallpaper imitate a desert seemingly innocuous suburbs outdated, distinctly 80s little girls are everywhere sprinting and squealing wearing plastic tiaras exuding safety their own, not yours something bad happened to their mothers where are their mothers…
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Three Poems by Dante Novario
Magic Mirror It’s not my fault your room is unlovableBut you still blame me, bloodshot disdainAnd glass-bottled breath, staring at me Every night as if I were a metal cursed, a glossyEnchantment, as if I chose to make my realityYour filthy reflection; a spiteful silver itselfManifesting moldy corners and chipping paint stains. I can’t help…
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“This Is What I’m Dealing With (or, The Drawbacks of Being Reasonable)” by Colette Parris
This Is What I’m Dealing With (or, The Drawbacks of Being Reasonable) The fact that the state of everything isn’t keeping you up at night is keeping me up at night and there are not enough verys in the multiverse to convey how very much I wish that I was still ignorant with respect to…
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Two Poems by Andrew Wittstadt
Fresh Flowers Flowers flooded the killing plane ground up lamb brain and daisies Dog pads sashayed into hot filth floors two-inch thick slop, chopped daisies Hit, wrought together garden fence circle-stomped, trampled daisies Mary pressured your hand till faint knuckles stone starred and daisied Stench immense and plain as barn shit squelched to hurt –…
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Three Poems by Joseph de Luna Saguid (tr. by Kristine Ong Muslim)
Translated from the Filipino by Kristine Ong Muslim Island They drift farther and farther away— your children. They can no longer hear your beckoning voice. Playing cards are endlessly laid out during the wake. You fix your eyes on the relentless clawing of water. Drown It is only fitting to take off your clothes. Because…
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My Mother Wants a Cigarette by Ralph Savarese
My Mother Wants a Cigarette Our public health officials have discovered irony, that wind chime on the porch of the gods, that spangled irritant. They’re like an older person with an iPhone, taking selfies, watching videos. “Now, how does this app work?” They tell us smoking offers some protection from the virus. Apparently nicotine inhibits…
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I hold a knife to my jugular before interpreting the Hieroglyph on the far Wall by Enotor Prosper
before Jugular my to Knife a Hold I the Interpreting Wall far the on Hieroglyph At 10:30 P.M., I am in a bus, around that bus, Nigeria is burning; to the far left, a boy cut opens his mouth to mimic the howl rolling out from beside the full moon. Let’s pretend hunger is not…
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A masochist learns to sing the Stones by Brandy McKenzie
A masochist learns to sing the Stones When I say yes, I’m not sure what I mean any more. It could be this: a dark room, some others, Mick Jagger crying over a lost love no one remembers these days, his love and money missing but his coats hanging warm. It could be me, naked…
Thin Air Magazine 