Donna Dallas

Ingredients

Why write…..Why pour out the ingredients
that I own. Cannot speak—I could never
say it—the messy tangled yarn of words and

what would I say anyway? How could
you know I have died several times trying
to get it right, make us good, make you laugh.

I am bad for you? So is smog and second hand
smoke and a good rare steak and what am I
to them if I am anything at all. People don’t want

for others what they cannot have for themselves.
Why write when I could have told you,
or the mailman, that I believe I am reincarnated.

An old soul, a soul of souls—but I’m through
counting my lives since the end of the world is fast
on its way, an ugly vulture dragging half the

universe. So we must live life—really live it!
But what does that mean? I’m bored out of my skull
so I join the gym to get in shape and now

I’m bored with my own body. What I want
in the deep of a New York night is a good glass
of blood-red wine and the noises the cars make

when passing down my street. People exist.
I forget this sometimes since I am quite occupied
searching for crows feet around my eyes

in every mirror of every room I lay foot in.
I refuse to take all the blame for changing
your ways and probably nine other people’s ways.

We bounce off one another and if I see white
today, maybe then I’ll wear white tomorrow.
Why write about things like this—the stuff

I am made up of. How am I doing? I walk
on eggshells when I talk, stammer
and cough up blood for lack of words.

Originally published in Drunk Monkeys 

James Diaz

The Way We Know Things

Your eyes adjust, little one
this cradle is a highway 

your mother knows 
the winding 
of these roads
and the soft kill 
of the fatherland

a poisoned heart

breaking bread
on the asphalt 
behind Pete’s 
abandoned Motel

Prairie Dallas prays for mercy 
in an empty bathtub
what feels like a dark redemption 
coursing through her veins

I don’t regret it
she says to the ceiling 

her boy is playing in the headlights
of a stranger’s car 
by the road to nowhere 

wind blows 
through a paper bag world
and the evening news says 
brighter days are ahead

most of us 
have to work a little harder 
for that kinda light.

damion snow

jack and his french gurl

whistle winds wash
over the meadow
the grass tall
and whipping

there are borage flowers
that sprout wild
in patches of blue
like little islands
in an ocean of green

her eyes are agile
and hazel

they remind me of dead leaves

naked and mounted
she pushes herself
into me, holding her breasts
the nipples a heathered pink
and her skin soft and
flawless

i eject
my seed
the milky
mass festering
in her
ovaries

and the leaking blood
down her thighs
like a creek

the red stains as
we lay adjacent
on the earth

it becomes like
a tattoo, to remember
the pain and the shame

Paul Tanner

boring

never got 
the psycho thing.

I get the thrill 
of control and domination 
in the bedroom, yeah

but not to the extent of 
nonconsenting sexual violence
and/or murder. 

truth be told,
I don’t see what the ego boost is:
the human 
is a stupid 
self-sabotaging
soft bag of organs.
not exactly hard prey.
we’ve been killing 
and repressing each other 
for centuries
because it’s easy.
we’re pretty low hanging fruit if you ask me. 

so no,
I don’t kill people 
because I think 
it makes me special. 

I just do it
to shut them up,
like any other normal person.

Casey Renee Kiser

+ Applause +

I wanted to disappear, with him
I think he wanted that too, sometimes
But mostly, he just wanted my rent

We were starting to work together
on this stage of life…

I had the magic and he had the act
He had the hat of tricks
I had the white rabbit fix

When he sawed me in half, ha–
the audience roared for the illusion
but I will forever be reaching

for myself

J.J. Campbell

a little hole in the carpet

it’s the sound of coltrane
on a rainy evening
 
a glass of wine spilled
on the floor
 
yet another bent spoon
burning a little hole
in the carpet
 
you don’t think of 
yourself as a junkie
 
you are a hip cat
from another planet
with a bit of soul
and still a little class
 
a top hat given to 
you from the last 
homeless man you 
stole cigarettes from
 
you like to tell that 
story as a game of 
poker among old 
friends
 
even aliens believe in
honor among thieves
 
but as the sound builds
on that old record player
 
the thirst arrives yet again
 
you still believe in redemption,
love and whatever it takes to 
get a piece of ass these days
 
and you’ll gladly get back to 
that discussion as soon as you 
find a decent looking needle

J.J. Campbell

my sphere of thinking these days

i can’t remember the 
last time i looked into 
the eyes of a woman
 
i can’t remember what
true love, real love
fuck, even fake love
feels like anymore
 
and they tell me i still
have plenty to live for
 
that suicide should be
nowhere in my sphere 
of thinking these days
 
sure
 
a fucking pandemic
 
a presidential election
 
a country fading into
a totalitarian state
 
all the circumstances
that say isn’t this
just fucking grand
 
what a life
 
all my heroes tasted 
at least one barrel
in their lives
 
my patience only
has so much thread
left on the tires

J.J. Campbell

a major accomplishment

another day 
avoiding death
 
some people think
of such a day as a 
major accomplishment
 
i applaud those people
 
i’m not one of them
 
death has been at the
front of my mind for
over thirty-five years
now
 
countless people have
tried to help
 
therapists, friends,
lovers, family,
jack daniels,
jim beam,
 
even a few fine 
fellows from mexico 
tried their hardest 
a few years ago
 
not everyone gets
the  picket fence
and trophy wife
 
my father always told
me there would always
be a need for people to
dig ditches and graves
 
he always claimed
he knew something
I didn’t

Chris Vola

Meme Lord 

give us a like dear 
the body gets no rest 
behind this swelling glass abscess 
and next week’s podcast 
the one you blocked 
because something else 
more than remembrances 
makes fuckboys go mad with flesh 
buried in mute drama
swallowed in listless indolence 
& belched content 
babies doing the worm on coffins 
tear-suckling athletes 
extreme sushi fatigue 
& glorified misfortunes
you’re trying to feed something 
i.e. everlasting war 
on my behalf (ha!)
the photoshop blasts 
your attention to ruin
(rejoice & click the link!) 
(rejoice & click the link!)
(rejoice & click the link!)
simple pleasures rule America 
I want to slit you 
like a mouthless equestrian 
brandishing lollipops 
a kitten’s tongue 
scraping your eyelids black 
the symmetry of underfed youth
unfollowed & obliterated 
put this cis dick on repeat
keep it alive by gripping 
tell me it barely exists
in your thumbnail
that you’ll never visit 
my page again 
(ohfuckohfuckohfuck yes)
or whatever 
deal with it
make me the brand ambassador
of loneliness 
a vessel of joy & feminine brutality 
spewing stock character macros 
with limited engagement 
confined bodies sliding
into non-physical adventure
selfie-flushed
these prisons sanitized 
for memorable hints
of a larger void 
i.e. the real authenticity 
of our passions 
my dying will be etched in screenshots 
enraptured by a city of DMs 
& unfiltered sunsets 
forever convinced that newsfeeds 
are superior to genius 
drifted to sleep mode 
i.e. a real tragedy will always 
get mucho hits 
hate to say I told you but
those buried hours
this surfeit of pain 
a carpal fog inflamed 
thick in every direction
when night is not night 
& intellect is pantomime 
strangled in self-interest
the browsing starts anew
& we contain 
multitudes

Judge Santiago Burdon

My Biggest Fear

What am I afraid of 
My biggest fear?
Gladly I will tell you
If you’ll buy me a beer

Ex-wives,
girlfriends,
any of my ex’s 

Latinas with knives
and most women from Texas
Their husbands and boyfriends 
Drunk and packing weapons

But if I’m being honest
I will have to plead
Women just in general
scare the hell out of me

Let me narrow the field
If I must confess
Any damn woman
in a wedding dress

That would have to be
my final answer
Also nuns with rulers
and exotic dancers