001 – Allison Morton

RoadVer2
“untitled” by Allison Morton

001

she looks into a well
she feels the space
running down
into the core of the planet
where it spins and stops and
she remembers photographs in boxes on shelves in the back room
musty carpet and broken windows taped over
puncture holes in her vision
she sees where he sleeps, placid,
dead not dead not anywhere not alive
either but still
so she opens boxes on shelves in the back room where he slept
the well where he hides things
is full
of space

 

 

—

Allison Morton is a poet, visual artist and filmmaker originally from Apollo Beach, FL. She received her BFA in Filmmaking from Ringling College of Art and Design and her MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics from the University of Washington, Bothell. Her work can be found on the cover of the current issue of Poetry Northwest, and in Peach Magazine, The Sonder Review, and others. You can find her on Twitter @allydmorton. 

 

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False Cognates – Miss Macross

False Cognates

he is a furry mammal he smells like cinnamon french toast he
always looks so warm

but sometimes i think he’s letting go of too much body heat he
looks like he’s using up too much energy trying not to be sad

i have bitter cold bony witch hands and
i can do nothing for him

—

Miss Macross is a Pittsburgh-based poet, tutor, witch, and painter. She is influenced by spacecraft, witchcraft, and personal experiences with trauma. Her work has been published in Philosophical Idiot, Rag Queen, Train, The Mantle, and Flash Fiction Magazine.

 

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Riddle Locked – Erynn Pontius

Riddle Locked

I was forged.
Two look just like me;
In pockets I plinked,
but you lost me.
You said I open hearts,
but my body churns.
And I always let you in.

—

Erynn Pontius graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Arts in Writing and Rhetoric Studies and a minor in Creative Writing. She currently works for Weber State University. Her poems and short stories have appeared in The Hungry Chimera and The Canticle Literary Journal.  

 

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Crave – Kathie Giorgio

Crave

getting older
old
you find yourself
craving fruit
(clementines, peaches, pears, pears, pears!)
vegetables
(zucchini, green beans, cucumbers)
instead of the meat
of your youth
(ribs, porterhouse, ¼ pound burger, rare)
eating safe now
instead of then
but craving then
again

—

Kathie Giorgio is the critically acclaimed author of three novels, two story collections and a poetry chapbook. Her fourth novel, In Grace’s Time, was released on 9/7/17. Giorgio’s stories and poems have appeared in countless literary magazines and anthologies. She’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, among other awards.

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Polar Bodies – Sydney Sheltz-Kempf

Polar Bodies

As I’ve matured into a clone of you
I’ve always wondered
how I didn’t end up as a polar body
since we’ve always been
polar opposites.

—

Sydney Sheltz-Kempf is a current PhD candidate at Western Michigan University in Biological Sciences.  Her previous work can be found in Intima: Journal of Narrative Medicine and The Scene and Heard.  Her first chapbook titled Adding Up Forever: A Memoir will be published by The Poet’s Haven in Fall 2018.

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