Have you noticed lately your sagging pinions? A decrease of nectar in the neckskin. Stomach like a blank sack, a slack snap. Those duck feet, paddling mad. From down here,…
It was the word “god” that tore me apart after you said he punishes those that masturbate. I was 13. I never valued cruelty. That word packed full of punishment…
give me your give me your your tired – tired – tired – a long hot walk – tired – your eyelids drooping – the swimming desert – your last…
Dust falls from crystal balls everywhere. Empty fields signed beware of the bull call out memory’s bluff as one by one old selves old beliefs are drawn forth shrugged off…
(This poem was accepted prior to alyssa hanna’s involvement in the Barren Magazine Masthead.) Header photograph © Christopher Nielsen.
Every breath is burning, every breath is yours. Lean against the gas station ice-box, with the penguins on the side – I’ll sleep in snow-drifts until the morning light pours.…
for her this will be the last one the last poem about uteruses i mutter. let’s play deserted island you can only choose one food item for the rest of…
Before it slips by, like a solstice, make notes from all these everyday innovations: the better form for holding to the body of a broom, the spot where if you…
The paths we take to come home again are longer than those same roads are away. They arc, electricity lighting the sullen midnight dark, stretching out in the dim spaces…
For the 14ft Hammerhead Shark caught off a beach in Texas that died after it was brought to shore where I’ve been, great hammerheads are named after Gods. this is…
Header photograph © Lannie Stabile.
Header photograph © Kelly DuMar.
A poet I knew was stabbed to death while driving cab on the graveyard shift. His last verse was the sound you hear when you can’t sleep and a car…
1 paws up & fingers down, my boy’s here to catch the first bit of snow in his mouth. origami sunsets fold into quarters. i watch his hands and i…
Header photograph © J. Bish.
This world will erase you, he said, but it wasn’t a threat. Shadows nip at your knees to peel open: gore of glitter flecked with black salt, to protect. It’s…
Header photograph © Kelly DuMar.
I’ve had bad dreams too, you know. I can neither read nor relevé while on stage. I cannot figure out how to use the phone. The supplies I need are…