Maryam Ghafoor
…Above that desk,
a painting of a city skyline in grays,
How to paint rain? A brushstroke
of a person, of people holding black umbrellas.
Sara Mae
so alternate universe of me
how I get those knuckle tattoos
superstitio bay leaf taped to my fingers
to keep out the bugs…
Cameron Bocanegra
What's in a dream
that sends someone leaping through glass
blind as a kitchen knife is drawn
squeezed beneath a bedframe
Danielle Shorr
I stayed unstitched on purpose,
in hopes that someone would see
something tired falling out of me
and bring it out into the light to die.
Marisa Lainson
…Oh mouthless,
gutless wonder, with no digestive organs
in your slender body you can’t even shit
yourself let alone scream.
Caroline Wellman
The heart-slowing, stone-in-the chest
weight of the universe shifted.
Head down, eyes pained, quiet tears.
His voice more faint each year.