Donna Dallas

Melancholy with a splash of Tito’s

I wanted to write that I’d felt
several times I would never 
outlast that I’d never get 
here – I’ve laid still

under naysayers and boasters
I played dead to avoid
being beaten to death 
even when I lay buried deep in soft

earth I dug and clawed out just 
in time to breathe I wanted
to say it would be ironic 
to run into the few sharers

and we would laugh recalling
how lovely a share it was
in those hazy days
I wanted to say I thought of you

wondered if I killed you as well 
it’s a slow death but oh how 
desirable to feel it…..one more 
time one more day

I’d give a lot of money 
a piece of myself
although there is a part of me 
that lingered in that place

if you lose your arm or a finger
you still feel that it is there
it yanks at me always
moves me and I 

sometimes feel 
that old part of me 
saunter into the room
in search of you

David J. Thompson

The Phases Of The Moon

I don’t exactly understand why, but
my new girlfriend won’t come indoors
after dark when she’s having her period.
When I ask her about it, she just murmurs
something about needing to live in harmony
with the phases of the moon. I’ve decided
to buy her a tent and good a sleeping bag 
for her birthday, and an economy-sized box
of Stayfree Overnight Maxi Pads.

John Yohe

Porn Hub

one lesbian in 
pantyhose sniffs the
feet of another

your step-sister says
she won’t tell anybody
from your point of view

the girl instructs you
how to jack off and laughs at
your pathetic dick

a man spends an hour
groping a woman on a
bus while she acts calm

your ‘wife’ looks at you
while having sex with a real
man with a real cock

a woman touches
herself in her car in a
Walmart parking lot

this compilation
features twenty-one facials
in seven minutes

a ‘daughter’ brings her
boyfriend home to her ‘mother’
and guess what happens

do you relate to
the woman with the strap-on
or her girlfriend

a woman is caught
and ravished by tentacles—
only in Japan

a woman takes off 
everything but her hijab
filmed by her husband

your mom has sex with 
your bully so he’ll leave you
alone and you watch

a man in anger
management fucks the mouth of
his hot therapist

two full hours of girls
masturbating and reaching
orgasm—two full hours

there apparently 
are amateur women who
like to give blowjobs

a black man makes a
white woman say the n word
while he slaps her

this sissy trainer
uses het porn clips to show
you that you are gay

HSTQ: Fall 2020

horror, adj. inspiring or creating loathing, aversion, etc.

sleaze, adj. contemptibly low, mean, or disreputable

trash, n. literary or artistic material of poor or inferior quality

Welcome to HSTQ: Fall 2020, the curated collection from Horror, Sleaze and Trash!

Featuring poetry by William Taylor Jr., Michael D. Amitin, Casey Renee Kiser, Judge Santiago Burdon, David J. Thompson, J.J. Campbell, Johnny Scarlotti, David Boski, Kerney Bee, Daniel S. Irwin, Paul Tanner, James Diaz, Andy Seven, damion snow, Jeffrey Zable, Jeff Weddle, John Maurer, John Tustin, Donna Dallas, John D Robinson, Dave Cullern, and Matt Amott.

Kindly PayPal 5 USD to arthur.graham.pub@gmail.com, or get your FREE ebook here!

More of the lovely Miss Ginger HERE

Paul Tanner

diamond

she was stuffed 
into a long skirt.
it was like clingfilm around her thighs
and hugged all the way down to her ankles: 
she looked like an upside-down pear.
she could barely move in it.
and as she went past me 
doing these little trots in heels, 
I saw there was a hole 
in the stitching at the side,
high up on her thigh:
this tiny peek of leg flesh, 
like a diamond in the dark.
all I could think about
was running over 
and licking it:
would it be stubbly? 
would it be smooth?
would it taste of some lotion,
or just good ol’ sweat?
I wanted to lick that diamond
so bad 
but I’m a good man 
so I didn’t 
and she trotted on
quite safe in her little stifled trots.
I wanted to lick that diamond 
so bad 
but wrote about it instead 
and now you do too,
don’t you? 

John Maurer

Blood, Blood, and Tears

No one has even noticed my brain is outside of my skull
Sitting in my hand dripping out its serotonin and dopamine
The reuptake isn’t great when I’m spilling it out
Like my heart fell off my sleeve and onto the page

I’m still saying what they tell me not to
I have too much free agency for an agent in my early twenties
I say fuck because I’m fucking fucked
If I tell them to fuck off, they fuck on
Even if I don’t give a fuck, they will take a fuck
Like my poetry is a cheap whore, only meant for one night stand

They want to tell me where to put my line breaks
And for that, they will take…hmmm…nine eighths
Plenty more if they can and more if I’m desperate,
and I’m plenty desperate
I would take minimum wage for a page, but who would pay
To see auto-autopsy
To see half of a heart transplant
To see me write poetry until I have a nosebleed

Donna Dallas

W.T.

When I drive back to the house
Three stories with
railroad rooms
still under foreclosure
my brother holed up
in the basement
sits on a toilet that doesn’t work
smokes meth for days
and trips
until his legs are purple
and swollen
from sitting in that same spot
my sister-in-law relies heavily
on Zani
she’s got a fucking gut like
Kuato is living under her shirt
from
the drink
from God knows what

I’ve watched the daisies
the African violets
bloom
under the weeping willow
year after year
I’ve tried to help them all
when I lived upstairs
and she would come up
black eyed and fucked up
or their kids would pound
on my door
scream bloody murder
because he beat her again
and again

The Weeping willow is dead now
looks like a
sinister twisted stump 
lurks behind a busted up fish tank
a ratty chair and a crate with empty beer
bottles
in my old apartment now live
her sister 
who escaped her ex
he became a Satan worshipper
she had to change her name just in case
he came for them
her, their daughter and son live there
along with the son’s girlfriend
this is how we live
it’s called white trash
it’s so obvious it’s a nationality
a branding

I still feel it
the trash
Mom would sit out the third floor
windowsill
smoke cigarette after cigarette
watched everyone and everything
except us
I didn’t need watching
I needed a mother who wasn’t
recovering
and didn’t bring a bible toting boyfriend home
from AA
who would help us all recover
together in the house
in the middle of the block
surrounded by other white-trashers
with their own set of problems
and maybe a worse
or a lighter load
than ours

Joe Rolnicki

Volatile Scattershot 

Nihilistic but smiley
Reliably tired
I heard you’re absurd
Do you like to be choked?
I’ll drink your words like whiskey
And your cunt like coke
Where do I sign up
For the self-sabotage?
Take me to the ruins
Of a romantic mirage
I’m just a phase
I want to watch you jerk off
And runaway
Put me in your footnotes
Stick me in your seams
A volatile
Scattershot
Of humanity
And memes
I love you
Nevermind
Yes please
Unsubscribe
Ignite 
Binge 
Burn
Never learn
Drown 
Me
In 
Your 
Curves
Grab my ass
You can slap me harder than that
Who am I
Who’s asking
Who is anyone
Who cares
Let’s eat cereal
And watch cartoons
Is it nap time yet?