NOISE

Halloween Night


Halloween Night

by Jennifer Luckenbill

The Oklahoma wind
whistles its quiet tune
outside the window,
smooth as butter
on freshly browned toast.
Music to drown
the thumps and bumps
of a late Halloween night.

Whispered melodies
too soft for the ear,
breaking the wall
between body and spirit,
between living and dead.

No costumed faces
at this hour
to scare away the spirits,
so they press faces against windows,
the ghost equivalent
of puppy-dog eyes,
begging for the warmth of the living
to press against their bodies,
a moment’s feeling,
there and gone.

About the author…

Jennifer Luckenbill is a freelance writer, editor, and artist currently living in […]

Halloween Night2020-06-08T06:49:33+00:00

Erdélyi Táncok


Erdélyi Táncok

by Matthew Dischner

My cats prick up at the sound of Bartók,

their tails arrhythmically conducting

an uneven harmonic minor

as they yowl with the violins,

circling for supremacy over a discarded hair tie.

About the author…

A disciple of the experimental humanities and freelance historian, Matthew Dischner’s writings mix his passion for poetry and obsession with the natural world. A graduate of NYU’s recently transformed Draper Program, Matthew splits his time between the […]

Erdélyi Táncok2020-06-08T06:49:40+00:00

G-spot


G-spot

by Savannah Trent

I wanted to write a poem for them:
the perfect women
cocktail & slippers handy,
who wait for orgasm,

know compulsion’s other name,
price of spray cleaners & ant
traps, who know to tempt the mouse
not with cheese, but with chocolate.

Midwestern casseroles
as big as football fields.
How do you like your eggs?

Extra yolky, please
tuck in the corners.

Thanksgiving green beans with
French’s extra crispy onions
turkey gristle with a side of
football. Red-lipped smiles open
wide. I made it just for you
don’t you like it?

Better home & garden
semi-homemade sensation
double stuffed pastry

hide […]

G-spot2020-06-08T06:49:46+00:00

Dream at Twelve Noon


Dream at Twelve Noon

by Tor Strand

I am asked how much longer there will be light and know immediately, something to do with how the trees enter the sky on a mountain with my family and two friends climbing to an open dirt patch they touch and kiss me then with the sweet realness of a dream where everyone speaks and listens and eclipses—how much longer, my dear teacher wonders at the grayscale world, heavy with rain and I whisper in her ear violet, that dark […]

Dream at Twelve Noon2020-06-08T06:50:00+00:00

Double Bass


Double Bass

by Paul Smith

The bass guitar tiptoes
around the roadhouse
hears a shotglass
keeps on going
no one notices him
Only when he stops
circles the liquor store
on a moonlit night
and listens
shakes his head and moves on
to the apartment building
creeps up the stairs
opens the door
at last
finds the drums
doused in mascara and rouge
waiting for their rendezvous
he lives for the ride, the snare and the cowbell
but what drives him
what quickens his pulse
what stops his heart
is the Hi-hat
her backside swaying
like a flower as she gets up and
struts so he can follow her
like he always does

About […]

Double Bass2020-06-08T06:50:08+00:00

Crown Heights Vignette


Crown Heights Vignette

by Genevieve Betts

Jerk meat and roti, cow skin and goat feet,
neighbors in curlers outside the laundry gossiping,

children chicken dancing at cops driving by,
all sharp elbows, clucks, and emboldened eyes,

my bodega on Rogers and Montgomery Street,
its cat and her kittens in the back, mewling,

Chinese deliverymen zipping around senior citizens—
dominos, spliffs, arguing, Jamaican accents,

ships bellowing and seagulls bomb diving
trash bags that super’s stack against the […]

Crown Heights Vignette2020-06-08T06:50:14+00:00

Awake from Your Slumber


Awake from Your Slumber

by Gaby Bedetti

In South Africa paleontologists discover
Homo habilis in a cave; archaeologists dust
and reassemble the bones.

I vacuum forgotten items in the basement:
a sparkly-haired Barbie, her plastic horse,
an assortment of weights, an old clock.

With a sweep of the brush,
the alarm that roused the kids
for years of school starts ticking.

A friend’s poor diagnosis wakes me from sleep–
dust we are, and unto dust […]

Awake from Your Slumber2020-06-08T06:50:22+00:00

A SKIN THAT SINGS


A SKIN THAT SINGS: Movement, Mycelium, and Corporeal Choirs

Iván Espinosa

Scattered throughout the worlds of soil and sprig, there is family of small creatures whose lives emanate both sensation and transformation.  Carved into their flesh are brown waves of Earth, and beautiful wrinkles of wisdom.  Not far from the communities they nurture and grow, are towering trees that span generations.  This is the landscape — and soundscape — of the Mycelia. And at the heart of where they live, everyone sings, everything resonates in the rippling sounds of soma […]

A SKIN THAT SINGS2020-06-08T06:50:37+00:00

Madchen


Madchen

Madelaine Hanson

The snow leaked into the drains under the dry white sun. The rattle of the thaw pulled debris down the paving stones, leaving discarded pebbles by the gutter. The children played with them, finding the most interesting shape or unusual color. To them, this war was always a game. Hide and seek in air raid shelters, swirling around the lamp posts like aeroplanes, building fairy houses out of shrapnel holes. The elder ones were silent, staring, but for now, the little ones played.

For Suzanne, there were […]

Madchen2020-06-08T06:50:45+00:00

Signal to Noise


Signal to Noise

Gabriela James Noguera

I

A change in her feed gradually woke Laura, same as every day like clockwork, as they used to say.

Her feed changed twice in the night (that she was aware of). Upon climbing into bed after the second reminder to take her sleeping pill came the guided meditation, and as her pace and breathing slowed and her brain quieted, soothing sounds took over. When the time came to rise and prepare for the day’s work, newsreaders’ voices began to whisper gently in her ear, the volume slowly […]

Signal to Noise2020-06-08T06:50:50+00:00
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