Kilcock : Mid-Winter, 4:48pm By John Doyle

Guess what; Clarabelle’s right : there was a telegraph pole still standing -

it sneaks beside a shotgun rider freewheeling that bridge

I can't say much about for now, 

for my poem may not be as careless with its decisions as this guy reversing his tail into me, 

town holding me like a babe smeared by grey, dark already I see, 

train lights brighter than a blizzard mooching the breeze.

If I was someone else I'd hate them even more, 

that's just how logic works. 

Failure's overrated. 

Archimedes knew, a summer night's worth more with skulls scattered in the bush, 

than that sweaty boy who tugged at my hand saying let's go bitch.

War's part of our landscape now, the new breed of policeman's coming. 

My coffee had been cold about a year if I’d learned to count in old money,

and my florins fell harder to the taboo-shattered floor - than her heels 

had screeched across my chrome-mothered desert,

oh boy, nothing’s big in the cinemas no more, 

the hospitals are begging the dead to set their electricians free and when they do 

I'll arrive, egg down a shirt I've hardly worn more than twice,

my briefcase carrying absolution 

for those wicked dreams of Manhattan.

They say the collar matches the cuffs if the boy taunts his saviours with Sagittarius, 

it didn't please me to say I'd hated him so much murder would've been a breach of contract.

I'll say this much, Key Largo's real beautiful when its weather's playing dumb,

the raining shines on two-lane black tops, yellows and reds smudged through

a home in a dark Pollock, Picasso may turn less feral for;

I guess my left hook’s as weary as the jab from my right, nothing much was there to begin with, 

to drag my shadow home to what the wolves knew as the day and the night, 

Sonny Liston weeping down the wires, 

turpentine puddles -

those soot-breathing sisters of the apocalypse, so many, sadly so few -

gathering their pearls they hum eerie melodies, 

white light grabbing dresses they fill intentions with;

for when I see them I'll sing a sweet adieu, to a sailor who warned me about the evils of happiness, 

for a strand of hair I tugged from a muddy dirt-road, I'd intended to rebuild all again from, 

moon shining slippery smiles of soot-breathing sisters, hunting in packs of elsewhere's sorrow.

Daddy eats his gravy, got his shotgun by his knee, 

grabbing chunks of darkness with his fists, 

he begs Muddy Waters not to die -

hearing Belton Sutherland pure as the rust on the river, 

think I'll stop my wheels and listen, start a conversation with the moon,

the Devil is lonelier than the shit on my shoe

I hear almighty Jesus holler through the delta, the devil is lonelier than the shit on my shoe…

Half man, half creature of very odd habit, John Doyle dabbles in poetry when other forms of alchemy and whatnot just don't meet his creative needs. From County Kildare in Ireland, he is (let's just politely say) closer to 50 than 21.

First Class By Jake St. John

I signed my latest book

with pride 

and slid it in the envelope. 

I grabbed my keys 

and headed out 

to get some stamps

and make the drop. 

I pulled in, 

grabbed the mail 

from the passenger seat, 

and sauntered up

to the counter

waiting to be noticed.

She came out of the backroom

and greeted me.

The usual? She asked,

and handed me

my favorite beer

in a near frozen mug.

I had every intention 

of making it to the post office today,

but sometimes 

when passing your favorite dive bar

just like an expected delivery, 

there's a delay in transit.

Jake St. John has been referred to as “a neo-beat adventurer” who spends his time scratching down poems from aloft barstools and tree stumps scattered around New England. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including his latest, The 13th Round (Six Foot Swells Press, 2025). He is the editor of Elephant and is considered an original member of the New London School of Poets. His poems have appeared in print and online journals around the world.

His current book, The 13th Round is published through Six Ft. Swells Press and is available everywhere please pick yourself up a copy today.

https://www.amazon.com/13th-Round-Jake-St-John/dp/B0F2KBGR8M

Rejections Feel Like Acceptance These Days By Leon Drake

I got another rejection letter

this morning

while eating generic corn flakes

out of a plastic mixing bowl

because somewhere along the line

I became the kind of man

who owns three ashtrays

but no proper dishes.

The editor said my work

“didn’t align with their current vision,”

which is polite industry language for:

we prefer poems

that don’t smell faintly

like motel coffee and emotional damage.

Still—

I folded the letter carefully.

That’s the strange part.

I used to tear them apart,

cuss at the ceiling fan,

drink whiskey like I was trying

to cauterize disappointment.

Now I stack rejections

inside an old cigar box

like baseball cards

of failed versions of myself.

One from Iowa.

One from Oregon.

One from a magazine

run by a woman named Claire

who probably owns twelve sweaters

and says things like

“holding space for art.”

And somehow

they comfort me.

Because every rejection means

for one brief moment

someone stopped their busy little life

to sit alone with my madness.

Some exhausted editor

in a cramped apartment

read my words while microwaving soup

or ignoring a failing marriage

or pretending not to hate poetry anymore.

Maybe they sighed.

Maybe they laughed once.

Maybe one line followed them

into the bathroom mirror afterward.

That counts for something.

At fifty-something rejections deep

you start realizing acceptance

isn’t publication.

Acceptance is survival.

Acceptance is still writing poems

after the world politely tells you

no thank you

over and over again

in twelve-point Times New Roman.

And honestly,

these days,

the rejection emails feel warmer

than most people do.

Leon Drake's work has appeared in Spill The Words Press, Synchronized Chaos, Horror Sleaze Trash, S.A.V.A. Press and The Crossroads Magazine.

BOY By Susan Isla Tepper

After last call 

The lights flashing

Your life is the black floor

In a bar that keeps selling

Till the sun comes up—

With the rest of them 

You stagger out

Onto the street

Blinded by day or

Just plain blinded—

That sadness 

Crushing your spirit

Ripped out when you were a boy.

Susan Isla Tepper is a twenty year writer in all genres. Her most recent book, a Novel titled Hair Of A Fallen Angel, came out in the fall from Spuyten Duyvil Books, NYC. Tepper has also written 7 stage plays. Her third play titled EVA & ADAMO will present at The Tank, NYC, early fall. www.susantepper.com

You Were My Sausage, Biscuits and Gravy By Kevin M. Hibshman

You were like my favorite flea market find.

A faded treasure meant for my hands.

You were the last slice of cold pizza for breakfast at 5:AM in the morning following a night of riotous drinking that may have severed several friendships.

You rescued me like a small child separated from Mom, lost in the supermarket, crying my eyes out while being stared at by laughing, unhelpful customers.

You were like the time I got twelve packs of cigarettes out of the vending machine after only paying for one.

My friend Dawn had a bag in her car I stashed them all in until we got home.

You were New Years Eve 1999 when the bartender gave me my own bottle of good champagne, making the rest of the inebriated crowd jealous and angry.

Remember when I'd been taking your muscle relaxants instead of my blood pressure pills and made it all the way to work with two left shoes on?

I kept wondering why I couldn't seem to wake up until mid-afternoon.

Those were the days!

Kevin M. Hibshman has had poems published in many journals and magazines world wide.In addition, he has edited his poetry zine, Fearless, since 1990 and is the author of sixteen chapbooks including Love Sex Death Dreams (Green Bean Press, 2000) and Incessant Shining (Alternating Current, 2011).

Cease To Destroy from Whiskey City Press.

His current book is Lost Within The Garden Of Heathens also from Whiskey City Press and currently available through Amazon.

https://a.co/d/aIBcNvy

TANG ZERO By Philip Ash

Trim astronauts spin around

the moon, but I won’t take 

weight-loss drugs. I am

the last jolly fat man. After 

Santa Claus’ assassination

for shaking like a jelly bowl. 

Dark side of Luna would be 

a good place to stash Krispy 

Kreme doughnuts. Following 

Thin Police force-feeding 

people non-sat fat synthetic 

meats to prevent cancer &

amorous reactions. Krishnas

know garlic & onions are 

aphrodisiacs. Ask an Italian 

American Catholic father of 13. 

But good luck to the ‘nauts. 

Imagine one drinking Tang

through a straw as another 

cracks a joke. First spews 

little orange bubbles through-

out the zero-gravity cockpit. 

Nothing Houston can’t handle.

Philip Ash surfs the Dark Wave spectrum in your dreams. His work has appeared in Fixator Press and Beatnik Cowboy. He lives in San Diego.

INDIFFERENT MOON By Roger Singer

a night hawk

without footsteps

burns and

cuts the wind

pressing, striking

with command

grasping the unaware

on a meadow

under an

indifferent moon

 

 

Dr. Singer has had over 1,200 poems published on the internet, magazines and in books and is a Pushcart Award Nominee.  Some of the magazines that have accepted his poems for publication are:  Westward Quarterly, Jerry Jazz, SP Quill, Avocet, Underground Voices, Outlaw Poetry, Literary Fever, Dance of my Hands, Language & Culture, The Stray Branch, Tipton Poetry Indigo Rising, Down in the Dirt, Fullosia Press, Orbis, Penwood Review, Subtle Tea, Ambassador Poetry Award, Massachusetts State Poetry Society.  Louisiana State Poetry Society Award.  Readers Award Orbis Magazine 2019.  Arizona State Poetry Award 2020.

Mad Swirl Anthology 2018, 2019.

 

 

I Am Not Thirsty By Wayne Hebb

I drink for that

Warm fuzzy feeling

Leaving my problems

In its wake

Sometimes it takes

Just one 

Despite that, I always

Have another and another

I rarely stop at two

It makes me smile until

It doesn’t and 

Things get ugly

Drunken rants

The hurling of fists 

Blows striking on

My face until 

I am a sour smelling

Lump on the floor and

The bouncers carry me out

I wake on the sidewalk 

Wet with the night rain 

Staggering to my feet 

I make my way home

To that dreary apartment

Falling on that unmade bed

I sleep in a stupor 

Waking mid-day with

Depression staring at me 

With those sad tormented eyes

And I sink into that rut

Where I am not thirsty but

I need a drink

Wayne Hebb is a retired RCMP officer living in St. John’s, NL, Canada with his wife of 49 years. He enjoys writing poetry, short stories, creative nonfiction, and novels.  Several of his poems have been published in Verse-Virtual, The Dark Poets Society, The Horseshoe Literary Magazine and The Galway Review. 

MY DRUNKEN COMPANION By John Grey

I press dollars on the table,

faces up,

dead presidents smiling

at the pretty waitress.

She does not mind my foolishness.

And, besides, her smile

is bright and well-practiced.

I borrow it for a moment.

For the man beside me

with his sad heart

and his tales of deceitful exes,

corrupt bosses,

ungrateful family,

needs all the smiles he can get.

He lifts a hand to wave at her.

Not a wave exactly.

It’s more a kind of prayer

And she brings more wine,

enough to loosen the edges

of both our faces.

He doesn’t lighten up exactly.

But he begins to doze.

And maybe he can find solace

in whatever dreams may come.

I leave him there, walk home

past the window

where he still sits,

head down, muttering something

in my direction,

in a kind of slurry code that says

you must always be drunk.

And I think:

hell, maybe he’s right.

Maybe you must always be drunk -

on wine, on women, on sorrow,

on the simple fact that the world

keeps refusing to end.

So I go home, kick off my shoes,

and drink to that.

 

 

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Midnight Mind, Novus and Abbey. Latest books, “Bittersweet”, “Subject Matters” and “Between Two Fires” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in the MacGuffin, Touchstone and Willow Review.

I Might Get the Jellyfish Haircut By Juliet Cook

The more absurd my buzz becomes

the better until I bang my head 

on the keyboard and don't remember

the lines I wrote the next day,

but that often happens anyway.

Anyway if I lie down right now,

then I'll unintentionally cause the black cat

to jump off the bed, because he will think

that I think I take precedence over him

even though I don't think any such thing.

My recent online research has involved

how to know if a cat likes you, 

but also poisonous jellyfish, 

inadvertently leading towards

a trending jellyfish haircut

combined with cancerous wigs.

If the cat follows me, does he like me

or does he hate me? Maybe 

I shouldn't have gone downstairs.

I can hear him breathing, but 

I don't know if he can hear me.

Juliet Cook doesn't fit inside an Easy-Bake Oven and rarely cooks. Her poetry has appeared in a peculiar multitude of literary publications. She is the author of numerous poetry chapbooks, most recently including "red flames burning out" (Grey Book Press, 2023), "Contorted Doom Conveyor" (Gutter Snob Books, 2023), "Your Mouth is Moving Backwards" (Ethel Zine & Micro Press, 2023), "REVOLTING" (Cul-de-sac of Blood, 2024), and "Blue Stingers Instead of Wings" (Pure Sleeze Press, 2025). Her most recent full-length poetry book, "Malformed Confetti" was published by Crisis Chronicles Press. You can find out more at https://julietcook.weebly.com/.

Cocktail By J.I. Kleinberg

In winter’s last rationing of light

set out your implements of alchemy,

your snug utensils of conjury,

your beakers and powders, glass

wands and amulets. Wipe dust

and stain from your table, carve

a block of ice from the glacier’s lip.

Drop it in a tall glass.

Before it begins to melt, whisper

an incantation of constellations 

in a language you do not speak. 

Take a small scoop from the moon

with a long-handled silver spoon. 

Gather fog from the horizon 

or from a cleft of pine-clad hills. 

Drizzle it into the glass.

Do not be alarmed if the moon 

begins to shiver. 

At midnight local time

fill a small vial with darkness.

Tip it so the darkness streaks the fog

and stains a bit of the moon.

On a scrap of paper from the pocket

of a coat long-unworn

write seven questions.

Murmur the questions into the glass

only until it is full.

Do not allow the contents to spill over.

Crumple the paper and bury it

in your garden. Slip a hollow reed

into the glass and sip slowly 

as you ponder the answers.

J.I. Kleinberg lives in Bellingham, Washington, and on Instagram @jikleinberg. She is the author of The Word for Standing Alone in a Field (Bottlecap, 2023), How to pronounce the wind (Paper View, 2023), Desire’s Authority (Ravenna Press Triple No. 23, 2023), She needs the river (Poem Atlas, 2024), and Sleeping Lessons (Milk & Cake, 2025). All of We is forthcoming from Anhinga Press.

Bride of the Black Creek By John Swain

The wind twists the vines,

the night crushes grapes

where I married you

wading in the black creek,

I jumped from a rock,

we washed in the source,

you set fire to the trees,

the sky rises

from the honeysuckle

of your sweat,

you cover me with rain,

we drink the wine you bleed.

John Swain lives in Le Perreux-sur-Marne, France. His work has recently appeared in Wild Winds, an anthology published by Borderless Journal. 

Little Head By Katie Barnett

He was a thimble of a man

He came into our bar, The People’s Choice, daily

We lived in Hegins, Pennsylvania   

He spoke but wasn’t understood

Pennsylvania Dutch, like a foreign language

He was suspect

Odd in every flavor

A smarmy fellow

Shaved head

Hunter’s cap

White T-shirt

They called him Little Head

He sat at the bar unaccompanied

Then played cards with my grandmother, Euchre

They relished this past time

I watched but had no interest

He drank shots as she delt

They smoked in tandem

I never liked him

I found nothing redeeming in him

We took him home one night

His house fell in on itself

He knew little, he had little

He found companionship with my grandmother

She gave him something no one else had, a chance

 

Katie Barnett is a speech-language pathologist in Alabama who works with students on the Autism spectrum. Katie is passionate about writing and reading poetry, it is one of the many “silver linings” in her life. She finds poetry compelling and exhilarating. She ventures into topics related to nature, sorrow, joy and mental illness. She attends a local poetry club weekly.  Publications: Allen Ginsburg’s 100th Anniversary Anthology, June 2026 and Rue Scribe.