Being Her Shadow

Always I am with her every step I tag along attempt to let her know she’s not alone but a smile does not greet me when I appear around her only a sadness I can’t reverse for her as I put on display the shapeshift of her body; limited are Read more

Amber R. Dulaney

Amber R. Dulaney is a stay at home Mom residing in Ohio with her husband. She aims for her writing to be relatable, aid in people knowing they are not alone, and in some way, helps them heal. In November of 2008, she received a diploma from The Institute of Children's Literature.

Prairie Sky

In the morning She yawns and stretches With dancing eyes Repossesses Sunlight spilling Through a battered blind Diamond set And still in time Her legs unfold Intertwine The horizon lying Distant in the past As far as the soul can see She turns And burns And covers me Like a Read more

Doug Hoekstra

Doug Hoekstra is a Chicago-bred, Nashville-based writer and musician, educated at DePaul University in the Windy City (B.A.) and Belmont University in the Music City (M.Ed.), whose prose, poetry, and non-fiction have appeared in numerous print and online literary journals. His first set of stories, Bothering the Coffee Drinkers, was published in April 2006 and earned an Independent Publisher Award (IPPY) for Best Short Fiction (Bronze Medal). Ten Seconds In-Between, his latest collection of short stories, was published in June, 2021 on Better than Starbuckspress. Hoekstra has also worked extensively as a singer-songwriter with eight albums of original material on labels released on both sides of the pond, propelling touring throughout the U.S. and Europe, at bookstores, coffeehouses, clubs, libraries, pubs, festivals, radio stations, and castles; solo and with combos in tow. Musical highlights have included Nashville Music Award and Independent Music Award nominations, as well as many groovy happenings. 2021 also brings a new album of music, The Day Deserved. ("A lot of people write songs, Hoekstra writes five minute worlds" - Wired Magazine).

Ménage à trois

My features, they betray me with their inside joke, my identity comprised of an awkward three-some. But when I’m drunk, so I’ve heard, the southern drawl spills out like molasses. I’ve lived my life as a chameleon, camouflaging into the background, hidden in someone else’s wild. I shake my hips Read more

TAK Erzinger

TAK Erzinger is an American/Swiss poet and artist with a Latino background. Her poems have been published by The Mojave He[art] Review, The Beautiful Space Journal, The Cirrus Poetry Review, The Curlew, The Rising Phoenix Press and more. Her debut collection “Found: Between the Trees,” (Grey Borders Books) was released in April 2019 www.greyborders.com You can hear a podcast interview with her at www.swisspat.com

the chaos in my bed

i’d much rather write a poem on my bed’s riot than the love triangle on my horizon (but i know what you’re eager to hear) floral pattern sheets become cartesian chaos: linear lines over my chest, quadratic parabolas echoing around my arms, the logarithmic curve slowly fading toward my pillow. Read more

Katie Simpson

Katie Simpson is a writer and photographer based in San Francisco. Her work has been featured in 24hr Neon Mag, Chaleur Magazine, Entropy Magazine, HitRecord's Body Book, Quiet Lightning, and THAT literary review.. When not writing, she loves traveling and people watching. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/honest_creative.

Dark Carnival

Don’t make me go not down there where tacks rule the floor donkey carcasses everywhere Not now. Not yet. haven’t finished my last punishment yet. Still plucking each hair off my body. For carnal sin, for decadence Please no. So dark. So lonely. I imagine scuttling crabs all around me. Read more

Elisabeth Horan

Elisabeth Horan is a poet mother student lover of kind people and animals, homesteading in Vermont with her tolerant partner and two young sons. She writes to survive and survives to write - We are all battling something. Let's support each other. Elisabeth enjoys riding horses and caring for her cats, chickens, goats and children (not necessarily in that order). She teaches at River Valley Community College in New Hampshire.

JOLENE

“And I could easily understand how you could take my man but you don’t know what he means to me.”–Dolly Parton, “Jolene” We were over by then, completely finished. We’d both been through the five stages of grief but I circled back to depression. You asked what you could do Read more

Courtney LeBlanc

Courtney LeBlanc is the author of Beautiful & Full of Monsters (forthcoming from Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), chapbooks All in the Family (Bottlecap Press) and The Violence Within (Flutter Press), and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She has her MBA from University of Baltimore and her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. She loves nail polish, wine, and tattoos. Read her publications on her blog: www.wordperv.com. Follow her on twitter: @wordperv, and IG: @wordperv79.

Self-Portrait

History and media says it knows me. But how can they know when they’ve never walked in my Jordans. I am not barrel-bottom tar, I am black gold. I am not just black hoodies, I am also treasure. I am not your indentured servant or slave or breeding hoe. I Read more

Lidy Wilks

Lidy Wilks is the author of the poetry chapbook "Can You Catch My Flow?" Another chapbook and a full length poetry collection is in the works. Poetry is not the only genre she writes in, currently she writing a contemporary romance and a young adult supernatural novel. She's a member of Write by the Rails. And lives in Virginia with her husband and two children When Lidy Wilks is not writing, she refills her creative well and binges on the storytelling of anime. Books, manga and Asian dramas. And relaxes by listening to good music. Eating milk chocolate candies. And or with a glass of Cabernet or Riesling wine. You can visit her at: https://pavingmyauthorsroad.wordpress.com.

Final Exam

You should leave him because: (Choose one of the following answers) A) He’s like the fucking sun. He burns you with his hands, his lips, his eyes. B) You hate him because he’s like the fucking sun. He doesn’t care if he leaves you in ashes. C) He brought your demons back into your Read more

Krystal Beatriz Galvis

Krystal Beatriz Galvis, born and raised in San Diego, California, is a writer fascinated with magic, fantasy, and darkness. She is a MFA graduate student at San Diego State University studying creative writing. Outside from writing short stories, she researches any Latinx fables or myths and writes small poems on her Instagram page under the hashtag #krystalg.