In The State Hospital. by Norman J. Olson

the gray rug screams at shadows

and the florescent lights piss

on cubicle walls. one patient

fucked

another in the ass,

so we write a report.  one patient

tore his testicles off

so

we write another report.  the grim

reaper walks through windows

disguised as

sunlight

the civil servants type and pull the bureaucratic

strings but nothing much happens

fingers click clacking keys

and

lobster claws type

at computer

keyboards.  lost in the

mauve and electric blue glow of

the screen,

half blind

and so radioactive

that they glow, imaginary monsters

lick their purple lips

and

 nothing much happens

Born in 1948, Norman J. Olson is a small press poet and artist from Maplewood, Minnesota.  He has published hundreds of poems and artworks in 15 countries and all over the USA. His web site is:

 http://normanjolson.com/

The World of Norman J. Olson – Drawings and Paintings Norman J. Olson is a small press poet and artist who lives in Maplewood, Minnesota normanjolson.com

If I were a Shadow by Devika Mathur

Through the slices of segmented desire
Where the circumference of my peevish skin expands,
I inhale into the tiny molecules that flourish these numb walls,
Mending a crack,
With a mist of romance,
A point of lust, a point of a dainty smell of you.
I walk through the ruptures of placid walls enunciating your presence,
And I peel the rim of this cucumber time zone
Where my legs fall in the abyss of surreal moments of you,
Like clicking of needles, rainwater puddle upon my iris,
Now beaming
As if I were a shadow of your dream.
A dream worth swallowing the darkness,
Just to produce the moon's composure, a debonair companion.

Devika Mathur is a published poetess from the country of love, India. She writes for her own blog http://myvaliantsoulsblog.wordpress.com.

Her work has been published in Madswirl, Visual Verse, Subterranean blue poetry, two drops of ink among various others.

Sixteen by Holly Day

When I was younger, I was an insect
scurrying from one dark place to another
determined to stay out of sight
determined to keep from being crushed.
The world was frightening, and large
and full of too much.

Now, I find myself drawn to flames I know will burn me
into the shadows of boots determined to flatten me
towards all sorts of places I don’t belong. I am no longer
afraid to crawl out of the dark, I will not
spend these last few years all alone.

Holly Day’s poetry has recently appeared in The Cape Rock, New Ohio Review, and Gargoyle. Her newest poetry collections are A Perfect Day for Semaphore (Finishing Line Press),  In This Place, She Is Her Own (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), A Wall to Protect Your Eyes (Pski’s Porch Publishing), I'm in a Place Where Reason Went Missing (Main Street Rag Publishing Co.), and The Yellow Dot of a Daisy (Alien Buddha Press).

Rolling Aimlessly Along by Melanie Browne

At the train museum
In Galveston
We notice a giant
sleeping
tabby cat

In one of the chairs
of the observation car
A little German toddler
is desperately trying
to wake him

"Vake up kitty-kat"
"Vake up kitty-kat"

He pulls gently on his tail
but this cat is a hobo
cat

riding the rails &
warming itself
in the island sun

until that one day
his luck runs out
and he will catch
the Westbound

Melanie Browne is a poet and fiction writer living in Texas. She has been published in various journals and 

online literary magazines such as Pulp Metal Magazine. She has also been included in several anthologies, 

including Zombies Galore and Everyday poets 2.

Drunk by Terrence Sykes

drunk
in a bar
in the
west village
cold night
nyc

longing
for
the
ones
who
got
away

Terrence Sykes is a GASP Gay Alcoholic Southern Poet & was born and raised in the rural coal mining area of Virginia.     Although he is a far better cook &  gardener – his  poetry - photography - flash fiction has been published in India, Mauritius,Scotland, Spain and the USA. ..Other interests include heirloom vegetable research & foraging wild edibles .

Boredom by Ian Copestick

These dark, boring miserable nights
The ground covered in ice and snow
Leave you with nothing to do with your life
And  nowhere that you can go

Even if you had got any money, There's nowhere to spend it
Tonight's so dull, it's not funny
I wish the clock's hands would turn to end it

Just another nowhere night
In another nowhere town
If I had a match to set it alight
I'd burn the whole fucker down

Ian Lewis Copestick is a 46 year old writer (I prefer that term to poet ) from Stoke on Trent, England. I spend most of my life sitting,  thinking then sometimes writing. I have been published in Anti Heroin Chic, the Dope Fiend Daily, Outlaw Poetry, Synchronized Chaos, the Rye Whiskey Review, Medusa's Kitchen and Horror Sleaze Trash.

Impact By Kelli J. Gavin

When you brace for the impact
You don’t experience the whole effect
Your muscles tighten and eyes squint
Hands balled into fists
Feet press down on invisible breaks
You hurt yourself more than anything
Maybe you should embrace the impact
Fully take it all in wanted or not
Accept every last bit coming your way
Take a hold of the good and the bad
Release what isn’t needed
The impact will come sooner or later
Choose to embrace rather than brace

Kelli J Gavin lives in Carver, Minnesota with Josh, her husband of an obscene amount of years and they have two crazy kids. She is a Writer, Professional Organizer and owns Home & Life Organization and a small Jewelry Company.  Look for Kelli’s first book of short stories and poems in 2019. You can find her work with The Ugly Writers, Sweatpants & Coffee, Writing In a Woman’s Voice, The Writers Newsletter,  Writers Unite!, Academy of the Heart and Mind, The Rye Whiskey Review, Spillwords, Mercurial Stories, 121 Words, HerStry, Ariel Chart, The Basil O’Flaherty, PPP Ezine, Southwest Media, Otherwise Engaged, Pleather Skin, Paper.Li, The New Ink Review, among others.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Find Kelli on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @KelliJGavin

Blog found at kellijgavin.blogspot.com