A stone through glass, breaking time,shards falling, leave me in my teens again:bending to the ruined greenhouse panewhose stained wood frame could standanother coat, the few tomato plants behindnot thriving anyway, the unwound ball of stringand open bag of slug pellets, slung to one sideof the potting tray rigged up from a sheet of ply.But, as my eye comes even, I see splinteringfrom the start … Continue reading Accidental View by Craig Dobson
Zoë Wells Mark Wilson is an author and visual artist based in Chicago. His first poetry pamphlet, PowerPoint Eulogy, was published by Fly on the Wall Press in 2021. It is a darkly comic collection of narrative poems that follow the life and death of the enigmatic Bill Motluck, and the PowerPoint presentation that eulogises him in a three-hour meeting for his coworkers. A review … Continue reading An Interview with Mark Wilson, Author of “PowerPoint Eulogy”
Zoë Wells With offices opening up and the end of the Work-From-Home year in sight, there might never have been a more relevant book to read than PowerPoint Eulogy, one of Fly on the Wall Press’s latest publications in its “Shorts” series, and artist Mark Wilson’s first poetry pamphlet. Then again, there might never have been a worse time to read it. It is a … Continue reading Review: “PowerPoint Eulogy” by Mark Wilson
The passions we have are not the passions we own.Where the captured soul has been hardly won,and the beating life we live finds rapture in the cause.To search and to seek for what the alabaster ones sold,amid a campaign of glory that was only for thosewith minds full of space but without room for decor.Until a rending occurred with an unkempt savior,who was banished and … Continue reading I Am by Jason de Koff
If I could, I would bottle the soundof a Game Boy startup, the way safetyscissors glide through construction paper,the shutter of a Polaroid camera,the kshhh of a spinning yoyo,and create a perfumeto spray on my pillowto remind meof it, like an old lovethat left on good terms. I would savour the notes of my morningsandwich in Dad’s teal ‘95 Corolla asFresh Air played on the … Continue reading Saudade by Melissa Ashley Hernandez
The water beckons; I launch my body into waves. Below my feet, sharp rocks and sea urchins, in every nook, glow purple. Salt coats my arms. I slice through the ocean’s realm. Rainbow fish gleam, caught in a puddle of spilling sun rays. My breath squeezes in, out. Water drapes me. I face an infinite swell. Muscles become taut, pluck me back. I turn my … Continue reading Trapped by the Undertow by Susan Rouchard
This piece was previously published in Daruma. recipe for eternal suppressionof free speech (9.2 million ratings)1 by joseph stalin, 1929 ingredients ½ cup of journalists 2 cups of censorship (disguise as cleansing of the media)high gini coefficient (works best with >0.5)a pinch of elites and a generous amount of peasants (1 : 20 ratio)skyrocketing unemployment rate (the higher, the better) vast land area to hold crimson ink spilled … Continue reading Recipe for Free Speech by Sena Chang
Apples lie rotting in their cottage garden as she falls asleep upstairs. Sweetbabes torn prematurely from the arms of their mother, now battlecorpses buried in shallow graves. Theirdead flesh and yellow leaves areeaten by maggots, railroad flies who pass out drunk,fat with honey fungus and cider. Her husband lights a bonfire,grabs the wheelbarrow, filling it with the maggoty bodies once ripe likehers. Meanwhile upstairs she … Continue reading Abecedarian of Loss by Claire T Jennings
I’m alright, thanks – although now you ask I do feel a bit,you know,skinned –like the last layertougher than the reststretched tight over my drumhas ripped – and out comeall the things I can’t sayunseen thingsthat can’t find the words to fit themshapeshifters –I can’t pin down in any tonguea whole sea of shapeundulating and erupting – painless, silent Sorry, thanks for asking This post … Continue reading How Are You? by Amy Stewart
Wine-careless, you try to wipetacky, viscous stuff off our soiled floor.Still my feet stick. I can bear no more.I begged you to take more care when spillingnourishing meals, everythingI’ve ever cooked for you. Now I know, with your plummy Rioja you prefer snacks, salty and sweet, rather thanbalanced main courses. Our fridge is rank,full of leftovers, things you’ll throw outeventually. Wasted food, lost hours. I … Continue reading Leftovers by Ceinwen Haydon
Age shall not wither her I think someone said. Well, that was a bloody lie for starters; I wither like a plant in a winter bed. Now gnarly hands twist like roots around my head, where fingers once played music on myriad lovers. Age shall not wither her I think someone said. In memories I dance, I move with grace he said. A tortoise: I totter, I twist, I tumble, I … Continue reading Cleopatra’s Needling by Karen Ridley
There’s a firefly warmth to your wry eyesthat I want to capture in mason jars,to make string lights out of them,out of memories better left behind. 3am is the bewitching hour. My circadianrhythm scours two continents to bowto a heartbeat I can’t hearacross an ocean I can’t cross.I buy a dream [or two] of youand in my mind, the curves of yourphosphate lips glow and … Continue reading Phosphorus by Jordan Aramitz
In the summer, when school was over, we picked mulberries in the yardand spun in circles on the grass.It was soft and living, warm on our bare feet,and every day the sun was lightening your hair.Your mom, she was playing Brian Wilson, and we listened to his brothers intervene. In the summer, when we were older,we smoked kreteks in the streetand the road between your … Continue reading Doorjamb by Chris Cocca
Growing stripes.Vertical like the feelings that never left leavewater-sized marks on the hills of my cheeks. Growing in vain.Still reminiscing on yesterday, please somebody come lie with me.There are no fresh starts – only leaves. Concave bulge simile.Normal bodies on easy street, phase outlike the clear sky. Fire flies directly over me. New size, turn and see. Fresh eyes watch. Stay longer and wade with … Continue reading Fall’s Belly by Kehinde Winful
At the Arizona market, I perusean array of crafts and relics in booths.My hand reaches for a Sacred Hoop of willow wrapped in rose coloured leather:a frame for a woven web of sinew,an anchor for gemstones and feathers. Now hanging from my purple painted wall,a talisman between the night skyand my body curled under Grandma’s quilt. Each night, new terrors haunt sleeping hours:my body plunges … Continue reading Ode To A Dream Catcher by Makaila Aarin
Luminosity among the pine needles; silken-sided peers. They fell him with twelve flannel shirts sewn into wings, feed him his own wolf whistle until his teeth blubber. Good boy: cubbed mouth eager and malleable. Good boy: fit for purpose and factory fresh. They take to the skies again, having picked clean the carcass of a compliment, and scour their teeth with scorn. This … Continue reading Plaid by Lindz McLeod
Stood terraced in this limited Lowrylandscape, monochrome-matchstick lads liddedvermilion and blue. Like the bruise from yourdad, when he’s seven pints bittered on anil-one score. Blunt swipe of your fringe, blank face,buttoned coat. You’re a naïve oil painting,this sketched-scanty Saturday afternoon. This post is brought to you by PoetryBri Creating personalised & bespoke poetry and assisting with any writing needs. About The Author Debbie is a … Continue reading Matches by Debbie Hudson
Bandit Fiction 