Breakdown

Privation rives the centrality
of the self-image pivot.
Words are let on to pinch us
as if pain fills the caldera.
Haptic maneuvers don’t end 
the hollowness.
 
Indigence apart,
neediness is a condition.
Replenishment
of the catchall isn’t a cure.
Balsam lies in the brain.
Ministering emotions perfumes the perimeter.

Sanjeev Sethi has authored seven books of poetry. Published in over thirty-five countries, he is the joint winner of the Full Fat Collection Competition-Deux, organized by Hedgehog Poetry Press, UK. Highly commended inerbacce-prize 2024 for poetry, UK, with over 9000 submissions worldwide, Sethi lives in Mumbai, India.

PHILOSOPHY 101

The dream never varies.
I wake the morning of the final
thinking I know nothing.
I missed so many classes;
even when I slouched in the back row,
I felt I missed everything.
I read some of the books
on the reading list
but remembered nothing of them.
I sat the exam,
somehow filling the pages,
and got roaring drunk that night.
The B+ told me everything
I needed to know about philosophy.

Gregg Norman is a Canadian poet whose work has been accepted by Lothlorien Poetry Journal,
Dark Winter Literary Journal, Borderless Journal, and many others.

Enter the stars

I am lamb
cult of the twin 
consuming thy future-tense gemini
vengeance 
on the tribe
retribution upon
the god
follow me
unto holy blood devastation
blue moon harvest crescendo

Mike Zone is the Editor in Chief of Dumpster Fire Press, co-founder of Deadstar:Control,
manager of the band Tail From the Crypt and producer for the record label Paranormal Vinyl
Cassettes & Hair Xtensions. He is the author of: Wonderful Turbulence, Fuck You: A Fucking
Poetry Chap, & The Earth Was Shaking For Days and Shedding Dark Places (almost) along
with being the co-author of The Grind and Razorville. A frequent contributor to: Alien Buddha
Press and Mad Swirl. His work has been featured in: A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Horror Sleaze
Trash, Better Than Starbucks, Piker Press, Punk Noir Magazine, Synchronized Chaos and Cult
Culture Magazine.

Why Harbours Become Regattas When the Rich Come to Town

Bought four jugs of paint stripper last week.
In a metaphorical sense, though I am no fan of the device.
For the ego, and all that comes with it.
Why harbours become regattas when the rich come to town.
Bosom babies large as heaving church bells knocking together.
Those many fishing nets of diminishing returns.
 
And I hold her hair over a motel toilet.
That Do Not Flush Feminine Products sign
on the wall like a commemorative plaque
to honour the newly fallen.
 
And a man will be called many things in his lifetime
other than his name, best get used to a diversity of attack.
Stretch out on the bed like a trucker’s manifest
for the long haul.
 
Falling asleep to the sound of my own breathing.
The resident hypnotist would have a field day with me.
Have me playing air guitar on some monstrous 
purple veiny sex shop dildo for the roaring crowds.
 
And you wonder why I drink as much as I do.
Climbing into trees after the age of ten should not be
frowned upon, but it is.

Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author residing in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many mounds of snow.  His work can be found both in print and online in such places as: Evergreen Review, The New York Quarterly, Fixator Press, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Red Fez, and The Oklahoma Review.