What is there to say? “I want to be a Polaroid snapshot /of a sunset. I’ll call it selfie # 569 /while I die.”
Poetry
Sometimes I Want Some Machinery
Steven Ray Smith's celebrates a guy's love of machines.
Steven Ray Smith’s celebrates a guy’s love of machines.
On Divorce I
"This trance this black of burnt bone and flayed flesh, this blanched care."
on divorce IThe cost, a few miracles, a few fires in the inner ear. A few thighsfull of dreams and dreams full of bankruptcy. A few nights beneath lies.The point is, he lost them all and her and the brown breadfrom a can and could still paint its raisins with the charred tip of his…
Unspoken
William Ellis explores intergenerational discomfort and the silence some parents use as a way “of holding back /the pain of all they lost.”
William Ellis explores intergenerational discomfort and the silence some parents use as a way “of holding back /the pain of all they lost.”
A Muslim-American’s Aphorisms
Given Lababidi's background as an immigrant and Muslim in Trump's America, he passionately hopes that this book is received as a work of hope, peace, and healing for our wounded world.
Given Lababidi’s background as an immigrant and Muslim in Trump’s America, he passionately hopes that this book is received as a work of hope, peace, and healing for our wounded world.
Mechanics
"anything mechanical /is coiled magic in function."
“anything mechanical /is coiled magic in function.”
Investment
Randall Watson's poem of desire and connection crosses into ecstasy-- "we, man and woman, initial, /feel the thin wet skein /of the darkened concrete /the light’s epidural ease."
Randall Watson’s poem of desire and connection crosses into ecstasy– “we, man and woman, initial, /feel the thin wet skein /of the darkened concrete /the light’s epidural ease.”
Signed, Lois Lane
A Lois Lane's love poem to her Superman--a guy who is "part strength, part sleep /part Kryptonian and /part peanut butter addiction."
A Lois Lane’s love poem to her Superman–a guy who is “part strength, part sleep /part Kryptonian and /part peanut butter addiction.”
My Father’s Tools
"There is no such thing as a saw— /only hacksaw or band saw or jigsaw or circular saw"
“There is no such thing as a saw— /only hacksaw or band saw or jigsaw or circular saw”
Benelux Redux
Adult sensuality and childhood playfulness collide in startling ways.
Adult sensuality and childhood playfulness collide in startling ways.
Bread of Life
A surreal slice from the inimitable Brian Beatty.
Bread of LifeThe baker crawled inside his ovento test his faith. Or so he told meIt was deadly dark and hot with that heavy doorshut tight behind him.Too dark and hot for his idea of Jesus,he said. He was afraid. I took his word for it. After his cautionary tale was donewe shared a loaf…
Call for Submissions— Shame: An Anthology
Shaming is both a cultural practice and a form of abuse.
Embed from Getty Images—Shaming is used by parents, teachers, government, police, social media, healthcare professionals, and countless other entities to punish and to ensure compliance with dominant values. Women, immigrants, people of color, LGBTQIA folks, and people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to shaming and its long-term effects, not least of which are anxiety and depression.What…
Old, dirty _______
In Rajendra Shepherd's poem, an outsider watches "blue eyes" as "They traipse, followed by prams, /Full of dreams /wonder[ing] if they know, /The bickering of ram-packed neighbours, /Rum so hot it can fire-up any temper."
In Rajendra Shepherd’s poem, an outsider watches “blue eyes” as “They traipse, followed by prams, /Full of dreams /wonder[ing] if they know, /The bickering of ram-packed neighbours, /Rum so hot it can fire-up any temper.”
Better Days Behind
Connolly Ryan captures the wistfulness of fatherhood: a man and his daughter "feeding the geese pretend-bread /and laughing at their easeful /acceptance of this fiction."
Connolly Ryan captures the wistfulness of fatherhood: a man and his daughter “feeding the geese pretend-bread /and laughing at their easeful /acceptance of this fiction.”
5 Days Before His 14-Gun Salute at Arlington National Cemetery
“I never knew who he killed all those years, but I knew who he tried to save…”
Interview with Grant Clauser, GMP Poet and Cider Press Review Contest Winner
Grant Clauser, winner of the 2016 Cider Press Review Editors' Prize, and one of our 2016 Pushcart nominees, sat down with us (digitally) to discuss his new book and what it means to him to be a good poet and a good man.
Grant Clauser, winner of the 2016 Cider Press Review Editors’ Prize, and one of our 2016 Pushcart nominees, sat down with us (digitally) to discuss his new book and what it means to him to be a good poet and a good man.