“It Is Not True” first appeared in Anon It is not true,that you must reap as you sow.You may wake in a cold sweatwith a changed mind,scream into your garden,claw at the earthwith your bare handsand scrabble up those seeds. You have made your bedbut you do not have to lie in it.No one has…
Category: Magazine Content
Let Me Show You
I call in sick. But I’m not sick. For god’s sake don’t lose this job my wife says as she leaves. Someone needs to be in I say. A man has arranged to view our apartment. I clean. I stuff clothes into drawers. Throw toys into boxes. I vacuum and spray perfume. I try to…
A Pound of Protein
everyone I know is pretty fucked upwe thought, we hoped, you knowafter the upload, it’d all be finemeat gone, problems gonethe heart is just a pound of protein, we saidmuscle pumping blood, that’s all Dan Grace lives and works in Sheffield. He has work published or forthcoming in the Dark Mountain Journal, Earthlines, Modern Haiku,…
What We Could Not Save
A chick had fallen out of a branchonto the pavement: wrinkled, purplebody no longer than the palm of my hand. It had stubby knobs instead of wings, a blue film over the eyes, no feathersto speak of. I didn’t know birds were born naked as we are. A group of us kids gathered around, and…
Saturday Night After Work
Well wait just a minute, you told me.I didn’t come all this way for nothing, you know.It was Saturday night after work.You had crawled out from between the cushions in the backseat of my car. I know, I’m sorry for your trouble.I have to get home. My hand shook over the key.Your head extended out…
Seek
1. I am a cold bitch but I’m hot as all get out. I shave everything and that means everything: no landing strip. You didn’t believe me and that was your loss. You unlock the car doors with a click and wait for me to rid you of my presence. On the way home you…
Scalpel, Sponge, Forceps
Help me hold this angel down;you will notice that his wings are beating back very rapidly against the operating bench,almost as though he is aware that he will not live through this procedure. One almost regrets that this is necessary. Pay close attention to his lips and eyes as we work together; watch for dilationand…
Insomnia, My Ugly Twin
She has six cuts on her abdomenand pelvis.It was smooth beforethe pod people camewith their one-eyed snake.Snip snip snip snip snipSNIP.Nasty beast alwayshungry.Sucked out the life seeds.Left behind the sad gas.Full and empty. Insomnia, my ugly twin,every night enters my bedroom.If I lock the doorshe tap dances on the roof.Grabs me by the handhot not…
Crash & Fly
Airplane Steel body. A coffin in motion. Can be torn apart like a child’s toy. Acronym names. Machines. Cold blooded. I never thought I’d get on one again, step across the threshold to the rows of seats and feel that plastic air breathing on my neck. I look out the small window, press my forehead…
They Found You Hanging
From your shower. Jesus, Tom, no one does that. Hangs themselves. No one does that. Tom hanging. Christ. From your shower they found you. The gardenias didn’t bloom that spring. My hands sore from all the weeding and I had to go see the baby elephant at the zoo without you. At the funeral, all…