Poetry
-
safe search and doll house fire
"Snake Vine and Flowers" collage by Tiffany Dugan
By Robin Gow
safe search
i took my eel for a walk & that was the end.
all i could see were horror windows
& adds for single men 100ft away.
the internet has a plastic mouth. i put
training wheels on my eyes. tried to watch
my same monster videos & they were
blocked, replaced with video
of everyday disaster like froot loops.
the eel died from lack of water & -
Five Poems by Grzegorz Wróblewski
art by Grzegorz Wróblewski
Translated from the Polish by Peter Burzyński
Marathon
Intelligent cities are made on moons.
If you don’t get there first
Amazon lockers
will conquer it all.
After all, suicide pills
aren’t available yet.
There will be hordes of geezers and maniacs…
It’s just that it’s a terrible disease.
One which hapless doctors
inject you with reminders
to pay your bills.
We’ve been sent here
so that you can reach
a state of cosmic stability. -
Three Poems by Hendri Yulius Wijaya
photo by Giovanni Apruzzese
Translated from the Bahasa Indonesian by Edward GunawanFrankissstein
Victor Frankenstein goes on an excursion to the Cloud.
His scientist instincts never extinguish.Scavenging mutilated bodies:
Stomachs of the washboards, arms of gladiators,
Engorged eggplants and sumptuous melons.
A cornucopia. -
Five Haikus by Antonio Guzman Gomez
photo by Giovanni Apruzzese
Translated from the Maya Tseltal by Kiran Bhat
You open your eyes
and wake up the sun so that
a new day can start.
Wik’a asit
ya xojobaj talel k’aal,
ya sakub k’inal.
Abres tus ojos
y se levanta el sol,
despierta el d
Every morning
at the back of a mountain
the sun yawns awake.
Ta jujun sab,
ta yach’ te’tikil,
ya sjach’ ye te k’aale. -
Hallucinyx
"As All Can Be" art by Edward Lee
by Dana Curtis
“The literary equivalent of a hallucinogen; or:qualities of a hallucinogen reduced to literary essence”
-Steve Erickson, American StutterI look for the opium den or
the library because I need
the sweet addled sleep of
the damned, the endlessly
levitated and furious, fearless
on the collapsed couch, words
leaking out the corners
of my mouth. It’s the only way
to look at a sunset, -
Bildungsroman
"Ecumenical" painting by Michael Moreth
by Seth Hagen
I was a cabinetmaker commissioned
To construct the King’s sex chair.
I was a maypole flag wet with June dew
I was half-mouse, half-toad.
Like a dog now paraplegic
I wore a bright coat.
Like a dog now paraplegic
I wheeled on.
A room. A braided rug. Two doors.
One half-open, the other half-closed.
Like a spoonbill splayed
And two owls in a mangled oak.
