Checking Out
by Claire Matturro
Checking out in a long line / my mind on what the hell / I’m fixing for supper / I notice the guy in front of / me has a gun strapped to his hip
If it Wasn’t for You
by Bill Ratner
I’d be a baby without skin, a parrot / without a little soap-shaped food cake, / a truck driver out of a job.
Gospel
by Roy Bentley
I was raised with religion, if you count my granny Potter / reading to me from The King James Bible
Three Prose Poems
by Kathleen Rooney
This day could use the excitement of receiving a surprise package. Even better if that package reads THIS SIDE UP.
Caney Fork
by Annette Sisson
Autumn crisps the tapering light, / oak pulls on its auburn duster.
Gratitude
by Scudder Parker
The peonies and gladiolas are more / seductive every fall.
For an Osage Orange Tree (and the names she’ll answer to)
by Angela Winsor
Say Bodark—for a pretty-leafed thing. / Hers are shiny, narrow, smoothed / curves.
Five Pieces to Assemble After the Quarantine
by Molly Lanzarotta
The lover who decides to stay / understands—like you, standing too close on the train— / it’s all about the distance we keep, or give away.
Pillow
by Claire Taylor
yes, my love / I know / a pillow can be forts and mountains / stepping-stones that slide / on hardwood floors and end / in tears.
The Poem of the World
by Scudder Parker
reveals itself / like a doe’s hoof tapping ice / till she can drink.
It all began around a campfire…
Beautiful language
is meant to be heard as well as read, and in fact words were vocalized eons before they were ever committed to clay or parchment. Storytelling began around campfires. We seek prose and poetry that continue the tradition.
Contributor Spotlight:
Box Office Gospel
by Marissa Glover
Open Contests
by Stephen Parrish, with the editors of The Lascaux Review
