Author: Ben Voigt

FavorsI swore.On the YourDiorcampaign,damage. Orscrimmage:shirtsand skinsto score;our orb,liquidcrush.I tried.The BeverlyHills Diet(toomany fruits):strobeflickeredfont ona marquee,letterson aticker.To befree!Or, notto know.(Doesn’thurtto betoo bigfor yourboots.)I played.Hideand seektheunderside—abashed,aside—pokingfununderthe tableto make.Unableto make,is whatI meant:the rent.Favors,1981.Anyone. On a StairBecauseit wasnew:pop-upshowsin windowson mincesaround town;the wood-work,CollingwoodPark.Prelude;hebetude.Seducedby afterbut leaningmore before.Meaning?The centurysubleased,my mastertenanton Tinain rehaband Ion a stair—raggedscreen;unknownstains.Not exactly,I satfor dates,and by dates,interviews,followed bystingydeclarations.Of balcony-bingoepithets atthe… Continue reading Randall Mann

From the Author: the Electracon is a particle I created. It’s found (mostly) in the :: wild unPlace :: I say mostly, because in the known Universe, its counterpart the electron can never be created on its own, and when isolated, can never be destroyed. Well, okay, sure. But what if a lone electron could… Continue reading Rosebud Ben-Oni

Manhunt1Impact point on the glass (his nasal bridge). Talking becomes uneventful. Like the light passing right through him.The accident scene is a prom falling apart.Everyone freezes like a statue (a good-for-nothing statue market).Chalk marks at every corner. Like the pre-action poses he sketched with color pencils in his diary.A sharp brake. The nib’s sharp scratch… Continue reading Chen Poyu

trompe l’œil, le cœur Eastern Chinese Restaurant Bethlehem PA, 1993 I always think the rice is ice cream, double take at the perfect scoops in a silver bowl. It might be a vase. I am not completely disappointed. When I’m warned I might not like some- thing I trick myself to trick them. Yes, jelly-… Continue reading Alison Lubar

Vanitas with Weather Eye keep a sharp lookout cloud syzygy rail tie schoolbell creek but here’s a table laid by artful hands fossil coral honey comb paper weight budget skull shelled acorns floral roasted keyboards a solitary hornet tests mercury veins in your feet alewives falling from the sky dive Vanitas with Whether I choose… Continue reading Carolyn Oliver

Dream with Lamp and Belly After the turbulent years were over, we went to the sea Your hat cast a specific shadow over the moon of your face  The tide pools were bottomless with questions and fear The water was loud, it covered everything  Your hat cast a shadow over the moon of your face … Continue reading Cleo Qian

Elegy for a Swan The San Francisco Zoo released a statement about Blue Boy’s death, which left his mate Blanche alone to drift along in the background of every proposal by every business school grad kneeling outside the Palace of Fine Arts. Someone on the internet commented he was an ass, but we loved him.… Continue reading Hannah Smith

Painting Grass Eric Sloane, Pecos Ruins, ca. 1975 I don’t just picture him tipping all the blades— or I can’t sympathize just as a watcher would: abstractedly, instead, I flick my right hand several times before I catch it moving. I wanted to make some, not only to stand there. It must be, in our… Continue reading Emma Aylor

Love You Baby “There’s 60 buzzards in the yard” gathered around a shattered deer discarded by some charging Ram. “It’s been like this for days” Dad texts, dark omens crenulating his roof, shitting on his car, on his porch, their caws rattling like church bells struck with bike chains. Every couple hours he fires BBs… Continue reading Todd Dillard

Jayant Kashyap is a poet, essayist, translator and artist. He has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Sundress Publications’ Best of the Net, and is the author of two pamphlets and a zine, Water (Skear Zines, 2021). He has also been shortlisted for The Poetry Business New Poets Prize twice, in 2021 and 2022. His work appears in POETRY, Magma, The Fourth River and elsewhere.