Seaside

by T.William Wallin-Sato

 

Last night I read Lorca in the bathtub
Three candles and an incense lit
My cigarette blending with steam and bubbles
Lavender and Epsom sinking to the bottom
The eucalyptus …

French Roast, La Silencia Resistencia in California

by Idalith Bustos

 

My cup of coffee has gone
stale in the late afternoon and it hits
me as the cloudy stuffiness of suburbia creeps
through the kitchen screen door:
    assault is …

From Claire de Lune

by Jennifer Bartlett

Part One

1.

I am your moon.
You are my light.

2.

Little moon girl, sitting in the pool
O ball, in and out of the water

O kindness, o gentleness
crow, no raven, sitting …

What They Said

by Tonya Suther

 

“What are you reading?” she asked,

from behind an orange mask.

In the past, I would have smiled,

responded cordially about this book,

only this pandemic has changed me.

My intolerance has grown, like

an overdue …

Large Print Poetry

by Quinn Gruber

You direct my eyes
to the yellow door of the bookshop.

Help me when I ask. Don’t just pull me                       …

The Palls

by Saleem Hue Penny

after Tommye Blount’s ‘The Suit’

 

Rookie,   this shift blows–still,   wear your tie, though
    in time   you’ll goddamn the   Southside. Lord   knows

I’ve spilled   …

Ritual

by Eva Griffin

Six girls in as many months. Talk of Ouija boards, a ghost hand lifting them in turn to rope. How else could they read the air and think …

Departure from Saline River

by Dane Holt

‘I’m sorry. I haven’t done this before
and I’m quite nervous,’ he said,
folding himself into the suitcase.

‘Don’t worry,’ she said, ‘Take your time.
The whole town’s come to see …

what the women are doing

by Jessica Traynor

for Elaine Feeney

while we watch our movies sunk in beanbags
    the women
are talking without pause of blocked guts
   ladling food into handbags
     where it settles in …

In Pasadena

by Andy Eaton

Midnight once he stood me
  by the door of our refrigerator
   open, like a wedge of cheese in darkness,

a milk glass in my hand,
  he yelled, he …

Sneaking Your Dead Body into Mexico

by Nayelly Barrios

 

             Mexico lindo y querido, muero lejos de ti, que digan que estoy

             dormido, y que me traigan aqui.

                     —song by Jorge Negrete

 

Let the sky flip and shake …

Notes from El Valle Megamart

by Cesar L. De Leon

 

1.
Sister Juanita buys cherry flavored
Lip gloss for the girls
Apple bubble gum for the boys
The lord’s prayer
Smells like a fruit stand
Under the summer sun
Across …