Fire Drill

You whisper “Fire!”
At the edge of my perception
Not a shout nor a warning
Just a promise of illumination
No shadow
Each crevice exposed
“Fire!” I think I heard this…
No “calmly walk to exit safely”
No line for roll call
This is an annealing flame
Run
Not away
But into it now
Burn away the useless things
I think it was you…
Who else would care enough
To see me pure?

MH Clay lives and works in Dallas, Texas. He has a poetry page at https://madswirl.com/author/mhclay/.
His poetry chapbook, Perhaps This Rain, was published in 2007. He has published two poetry collections;
sonoffred, Rebel Poetry in Ireland, 2015 and Angst, Mad Swirl Press, 2016 with a second edition released
in 2022 (both are available on Amazon).

Luis lives in California and continues to  work in the mental health field in Los Angeles. His poems have appeared in Ariel Chart, Blue Collar Review, Escape Into Life, Fixator Press, and Kendra Steiner Editions.

HA-HA

Romeo is bleeding
Juliet’s gunned him down
Midsummer-madness
Because the night
Winter’s tale- her recovery
Winter’s tale- his redemption
In spring- bullet dreams
broken hearts of glass
it’s a Billy the kid and Pat Garrett love song
approaching one another’s heart

Mike Zone is the Chief Operator of BIONIK PU$$Y. The former Editor in Chief of
DUMPSTER FIRE PRESS. The author of over a dozen books of poetry and fiction:
SKULL MY DAISY, FUCK YOU: A FUCKING POETRY CHAP, SHEDDING DARK
PLACES (almost) & THE EARTH WAS SHAKING FOR DAYS. Along with co-authoring
RAZORVILLE with fellow poet and publisher Shannon Lynette. His work has been
published hundreds of times being featured in: MAD SWIRL, FEVERS OF THE MIND,
BLACK SHAMROCK, FIXATOR PRESS, HORROR SLEAZE TRASH, PUNK NOIR, A
THIN SLICE OF ANXIETY, RYE WHISKEY REVIEW and CULT CULTURE MAGAZINE.
He scrapes by in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Apparition Poem #1547

this is
what
words
amount
to—
festivals
of ash,
collapsed
into urns,
held
up by
timid folk
for the
bold to
scatter.

Adam Fieled is a writer based in Philadelphia. Blazevox re-released his
e-book “Beams” in 2025. A magna cum laude Penn grad, he edits P.F.S.
Post.

Ya Got Treasure Or Ya Don’t

In realising that every single person
‘Born’… is a potential
‘Diamondiferous Kimberlite’
… we search for
‘Depth’ of Character,
Natural ‘Intuition’,
Independent ‘Intelligence’,
and Rebellious, Pioneering ‘Spirit’.
There are Internal (Maze) Doors
to be ‘Opened’… one by one…
a Progress needing Drive,
Dedication, and Determination.
The term ‘Artist’ is a Label
… given (Collectively)
to Individuals… following
an INSTINCTUAL Undercurrent
‘Riding Shotgun’ with Composition.

Paul Tristram is a widely published Welsh writer who deals in the Lowlife, Outsider, and Outlaw genres.  He wrote his first poem as a teenager following his release from the (Infamous) Borstal ‘HMP Portland’, and he has been creating Literary Terrorism ever since. His novel “Crazy Like Emotion”, collection of shorter fiction “Kicking Back Drunk ‘Round The Candletree Graves”, and full-length poetry collections “The Dark Side Of British Poetry: Book 1 of Urban, Cinematic, Degeneration”, “It Is Big And It Is Clever: Book 1 of A Punk Rock Hostile Takeover” and “South Wales Outlaw: Book 2 of A Punk Rock Hostile Takeover” are all available by Close To The Bone Publishing.

What to do (when the nematodes swarm)

You have to start somewhere. We all
knit with a different technique. Cooler
paint colors help the walls to recede.

This breathing room is crucial. It serves
as a practical resting spot for extra fluid,
explains what the five love languages are

in a language that isn’t one of them, a
general phenomenon that has nothing to
do with the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

Lack of sleep can make staying in bed
tempting, trying to gauge how long before
the concierge starts to admit the crowd
gathered in the lobby waiting for words
of wisdom from you, or your autograph.

Recent work from Mark Young has appeared in Home Planet News, Utsanga.it, Moss Trill,
Synchronized Chaos, dadakuku, Half Day Moon Journal, Mad Swirl, Scud, The Prairie Review,
International Times, & Lothlorien Poetry Journal.

Daydreamer

Captured in a car seat
Driving in the city
The gasp of praying trees
Chiselled out of glass
Dashboard speaking neon
And headlights
Dipped in brick.
I see pixelated stars
Like vintage video games
Tangled in my mind,
With fire inside my fists.
I’m a menace on the road
As I drive in rusty chains—
Crashing comes so easy
When I’m steering through the clouds.

Tim Frank’s’ debut chapbook is, An Advert Can Be Beautiful in the Right Shade of Death (C22 Press ’24) His sophomore effort is, Delusions to Live By (Alien Buddha Press ’25) 

Ambush

What the eyes do not
always see
are kaleidoscopes,

refractions falling into
the beautiful or
just wreckage, and

brick by brick
some graffiti is also
adornment, but then

obfuscation – or simply
too much pure horror
ambushing from the ground

Mike Ferguson is an American permanently resident in the UK. His most recent poetry publication is the erasure collection the aran aphorisms (Red Ceilings Press, 2024)

small pleasures

disarray bustle as they group slide off bus
treading quickly holding useless bundles
spouting too many words to register as real
carrying reasons unrelated to time as is
into blend of light rain and cars too loud

a laugh or shout or scowl binding a pinch
as truth unfolds while spilling into veins
of pathways and roads for next attempt
at situation that could easily go unnoticed
in body mass of many separating in light

and me in my after-covid fog no better
clutching at strongest black coffee found
relishing seat at too wobbly outside table
trying not to return to thought of sick bird
flapping in my over-grown back garden

another bus stops and out they fall again
and i become locked in why happenings
the corner fight between two meth-heads
my partners kind eyes when concerned
and has bird already been killed by cat

a guy asks me for a cigarette and i jump
and instead of sorry mate or i don’t smoke
i nod a feeble decline and he mumbles off
while i gulp coffee aware of small pleasures
crowds on buses and a dying bird’s plight

Stephen House has won many awards as a poet, playwright, and actor. He’s received international literature residencies from The Australia Council and Asialink. He has had many plays published by APT and two chapbooks published by ICOE Press. He performs his acclaimed monologues widely.

⁙

our entire lives built upon
staggered
concentric
intersections
to utilize spaces between

strategically placed
pixel-decimation
planting patterns

hybrid fractal beings
nestled center
transient flesh and bone

temporary meat suits
on an organic spaceship
yet we still
can’t get along

Gonzo Journalist, Poet, Artist, and Founder/Editor-in-Chief of Cajun Mutt Press. James D. Casey IV has been published in print and online by several small press venues and literary magazines. The 2016 La Voce dei Poeti, La Catena della Pace International Poetry Contest gave his entry “Warriors of the Rainbow” a critic’s choice award, and his poem “That’ll do Pig” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize by New Pop Lit in 2019. He is also the author of eight poetry collections.