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.

The Sky is My Portrait: An Elegy by Michael Anthony Ingram

As soon as my time comes,
please allow memories to paint the sky,
not with bright colors,
but with a soft whisper.
The outline should trace the paths of dreams I have pursued, and roads I have traveled both new and old.
It ought to recount the kindness I practiced,
and the quiet strength I showed in every smile I gave out.
It should be a tapestry of love,
stitched with threads of hope from above,
not an object of ego,
but rather a soft reverberation of a remembered name, a lasting echo of me.

--

Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, host and producer of the globally acclaimed poetry podcast Quintessential Poetry: Online Radio, YouTube, and Zoom. He is a retired university professor who champions the arts, especially poetry, to highlight issues at the intersection of power, privilege, and oppression. A nominee for the Pushcart Prize, he is also celebrated internationally as a spoken word artist. His eagerly anticipated second book of poetry, Metaphorically Screaming, will soon be released. For further details about the podcast, please visit www.qporytz.com.

Over a Decade Ago by J.J. Campbell

the people that tell
me to pray to god
make me laugh

god gave up giving
two shits about me
over a decade ago

the poems have
never been better

the alcohol tastes
better

the retort is always
if i believed in god
i would be in a
relationship

no need to make
my hands jealous
at this point of
my life

--

J.J. Campbell (1976 - ?) is trapped in suburbia, plotting his escape. He's been widely published over the years, most recently at Synchronized Chaos, Horror Sleaze Trash, Mad Swirl, The Beatnik Cowboy and The Rye Whiskey Review. His most recent chapbook, with Casey Renee Kiser, Altered States of The Unflinching Souls, is now out in the world. You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)

Barren by Kelly Moyer

This night,
‘kin to no other,
my pouch
remains clean,
albeit empty.

Ha! Let her,
the witching hour,
deem grief a poet.

I am nothing
but a wombat
in mourning.

--

Kelly Moyer is an accomplished poet, photographer and fiber artist, who pursues her muse through the cobbled streets of New Orleans’s French Quarter as well as the mountains of North Carolina. Hushpuppy, her collection of short-form poetry, was released last year by Nun Prophet Press. Notecards containing a few of her most popular images are available at www.etsy.com/shop/theunfazedmoon.