Preacher Allgood

box cars on the bar top

when the dice flop out of the cup
across a bar top that’s older than sin 
and you look down on five beautiful sixes
you catch a rare win
for a jackass interloper 
in a world full of sharks

you’re just a small time punk
from a nowhere town
born with a useless gift for words
wins and triumphs don’t figure in your life 

and all those box cars on the bar top
don’t mean your lot has changed for the better
the hundred bucks you won will disappear
when you get mugged in the alley
on the way back to your motel room

that notebook of defiant poems in your pocket 
won’t save your bumpkin ass

but it’s still fun to revel in a win 
and a joy to fuck with the local destiny
by leaving the c-note
tacked under the bar with a wad of gum

if you survive the robbery 
you can sneak it out tomorrow
just before the Trailways bus pulls out of town

Vivian Pollak

He Has Risen, but Who Cares

She craved a man
But didn’t want a mere fuck-buddy 
Oh God
She cried out
Spilling her Malbec

Then Jesus came flying
Into the room
Hovering 
Over the hardwood
As if it were water
But he was bored and done with that trick

My child,
he cooed 
Let my bluish-green light
Into your pussy 

It was the last straw

She knew she’d have to
Go back to the dating sites
She had heard about those 
Ectoplasmic freaks 

Sex Doll Gumbo Poetry Event!

To celebrate this book’s release, HST is hosting its first-ever online poetry event, and you’re invited!

Part 1: Friday April 14th, 6:00-6:45pm (US Eastern Time)

https://us05web.zoom.us/j/82338942374?pwd=KzY1d0hRbzF1bEZ5aitmVllaRWNHZz09

Passcode: r483Vy

Part 2: Friday April 14th, 7:00-7:45pm (US Eastern Time)

https://us05web.zoom.us/j/81595418754?pwd=RXd0UGw2UUtqV0Q4S0lNd0tvUkpvQT09

Passcode: n5Txa8

“Seating” will be limited to 100 per session. Please get in touch if interested in reading some poems of your own, and we’ll see if we can slot you in. Otherwise, hope to see you there!

Cheers,

AG

Jacklyn Henry

Addicted

i chase my addiction
in the dark cool embrace
of midnight,
hidden deep within shadows,
behind doors locked with
libidinous keys.

there is no need for commerce,
no exchange of crumpled bills,
no crushing of rocks,
no back-alley shenanigans,
no needles nor spoons,
or lines of sweet transgression,
no fear of vagrancy
or the stamping flat foot of the LAPD.

there in darkness, bathed in flickering light,
i watch others in transcendence,
in desperation, in the clutch of chemical ecstasy;
writhing and mewing with false pleasure,
deep in a dance of denial, thrusting and fucking,
tearing at flesh.

faster, faster,
yes! yes! just like that!

just
like
that

and a blink of a sorrowful eye
i am one with them, i am a
part of them, captured and chained
and tied for gossamer thread,
a participant from afar,
static and solitary,

i am a part of scene, my degradation palatable,
my shame and misery complete,
blood rising and rushing, an addict in the arboretum,
my skin crackles with fire.

i am burning.
burning, burning.
i am
burning.

eyes dilate,
heart beats fast to a strange kind of music
and
soon

i collapse,

only to feel the hunger rise
once more
from the base of my cock
into
the pit of my soul.

John Yohe

los ombligos del mundo

the girls in Sevilla
smiling and laughing
on this cool friday night
baring dark inies and outies
in the old cobbled streets

touching a Buddha statue belly
is good luck
though some people make fun of buddhists 
who
they say
gaze on navels too much
that navels
are a path to wisdom
or self centeredness

how much wisdom
in a girl’s navel?
how much wisdom
in keeping distance
from a girl showing off her navel—
that wanting that much attention
they must have nothing inside

but I remain unenlightened enough
to want to kneel
and work my tongue
into each warm hole
to taste for myself

Noel Negele

How Was Your Weekend

after three weeks
of non-stop
12 hour shifts
you suddenly have 
a Sunday off
and you don’t know
what to do with your hands

Saturday night
you’re exhausted 
but wanting
something to happen

life tends to become 
too quiet 
with free time 
the silence is
deafening

you call Martha up

“well, well, well” she says 

at the pub she gets
too drunk 
as she tends to do
kisses you too often
too aggressively

the taste of her saliva 
lingers for days

she gives the middle finger 
to waitresses 
because she thinks 
every bipod with a vagina 
wants to fuck you—
something that 
couldn’t be further from the truth

“there is no reason
for any of that”
you tell her

she doesn’t listen 

brandishes an empty 
Asahi beer bottle
in the air

a door man grabs her 
by the elbow
tries to be nice about it too

You put your palm
in his sweaty armpit 
and push him away
as if he was a toddler 
even though 
he’s three times your weight 

“they’d think 
an animal got a hold of you 
not a human being”

you’re hauled outside 
of the lights and the music 
from three pairs of arms
like you’re somebody’s 
dirty laundry 

blood’s coming down 
your nose,
your right eyebrow 
bleeding too

she sobers up all of a sudden

pulls you out of the 
violent confusion

you go back to your apartment 
with three bottles of Italian wine

she talks so much 
without saying anything 

it’s more noise
than your deafening loneliness

she’s so young 

she’s noise and tits 
and thick lips
and a poorly shaved pussy

sometimes you get so drunk 
you come across 
the charging elephant
in the room—
your sadness spreads 
all around everything you touch
like an oil spill
smothering wild life

she puts your dick
in her mouth 
as the room spins 
like a shred of cloth 
caught in the blades
of a chopper

all you can focus on
is the yellow stains 
on the ceiling 

you think
you need to call the plumber
one of these days 

you think
one of these days
those yellow stains 
will start to drip
something awful 
onto your bed 

you wonder if 
something like that might 
be the thing to make 
you angry enough to pull
that trigger finally 

you think of suicide letters
and how many of them
cried while writing them

you think 
you’re so lonely and sad
or sad and lonely 
or sad because you’re lonely 
or lonely because you’re sad
that perhaps no matter 
how many people you 
introduce to your misery 
they won’t help it

You worry 
you’re going 
to have to put the
scaffolding around 
your broken heart 
yourself 
and try to build it 
back up again 
on your own

you think 
about the only woman you ever loved 
and how probable
it is she’s a mother now
five years after your break up

you lose your erection
and
she takes it personally

“What’s this?”
she asks
holding your shrinking cock
in a tight grip 
like an inflatable thing 
losing shape 

(you imagine 
a butterfly turning
into a caterpillar )

“it’s not you” you say,
“it’s me. I’m empty. 
there’s nothing there.”

your soul is
an infinitely empty 
chasm

but try to explain that 

“You soft peckered nonce!” 
she screams 
jumping out of bed

her clothes 
in a ball
against her tits

“don’t ever call me again.”

she tries to spit at you
but it never reaches you

you get hard again
all of a sudden 

“something terribly
 wrong with you”
says a voice 
at the back of your skull

you step to the window
to watch her go
and you see her
key-ing the side of your 
shitty Honda 
before disappearing
into the night 

you smile— 
hurt makes for
ludicrous characters 

you notice your
reflection in the window—
a pale face 
with wine stained lips
like the lips of a clown
halfway from taking
his make up off

You drink 
the last of the bottle 
and slip into a restless sleep
littered with nightmares 
of dogs tearing you
to pieces.

Monday morning 
coworkers ask you 

“How was your weekend?”

It was alright 
you tell them 
what about yours?

John Grochalski

millionaire

leaving
the job
for the weekend

to spend
forty-eight hours
on the couch

acting like
a drunken 
millionaire

without a care in the world

until i wake up
into the horror

of the monday morning
work day

beholden 
to america again

nothing
but a pauper 

with cheap vodka
and stale wine

on his breath.

Nathaniel Sverlow

bedside manner

“I’m going to put
a finger 
in your ass!”

moving her other hand
down my balls

“the hell you are!”
I say, jumping up

“c’mon, it’ll feel good”

“so help me,
if one cuticle
makes it in,
I’ll slap you
into next year”

her fingers trailed down
my taint

“you think I’m bluffing??”

“I think you’re curious”

she pressed against
my hole,
pushed in,
and I slapped her 
off the bed

“what’d you think?”
she said,
climbing back up

we both looked down
at my cock
twitching
and spitting
like a madman

“ah, hell,” I said,
“let’s give it 
another shot”

“I told you
it’d feel good”

“you sure did,
baby”

and she shoved it in
this time

and I squealed 
like a stuck pig

and she laughed
like I had it coming

for my poor
bedside manner

Damon Hubbs

The Last Romantic

he spoke about her pussy 
in terms of art—
a dampness like Vermeer
a Monet water lily
from a certain angle
on the cheap four-poster bed
like Van Gogh’s severed ear

she sighed 
and lit a cigarette
said she didn’t care for art 
and kindly told him 
he’d have to pay extra
if he wanted to leave the lights on 
next time 

R.M. Engelhardt

In the Last Days of the Obvious Unknown Words

Here lies the voices:

The visions
The repetitions

Of a generation
That cannot
Move on

Let go

Or
Find truth
Beauty or
Meaning

On their own

As they follow
And worship the
Already well known
Well worn paths

Looking for
Fame

Or a
A status

Perhaps
Some brilliant sign
Like a star in the sky

As all the artists
Poets & rock stars

Have already
Left the building

Checked out.

Bowie &
Frida

Kerouac &
Bukowski

Had nothing
To say

With no likes, sad frowns
Love

Or comments

Thoughts
Transcendental or
Heartbroken

No meme
Comes with this
Poem

No new movement
Or a revelation

Wisdom or
Solace

For these are
All the things

You must
Find

On your own

In your own soul
Own words

For
Here lies the voices:

The visions
The repetitions

Of a generation
That cannot
Move on

Dead &
Unnoticed

Unremarkable
& unremembered

In their own
Fire &
In their
Own time

Unknown