I Hope You’re Eaten First by Scott Simmons

This lie consumes my soul.

You chose not to see it.

While I tried to destroy it.

But we are now both in the web.

Waiting to be devoured.

And all I can do is smile.

Scott Simmons is a poet, humorist, and artist of debatable quality from Houston Texas. 

 He is also the editor of the Dope Fiend Daily and enjoys reading your submissions as little as possible. 

His work has been featured in places such as The Rye Whiskey Review, Fearless, HST, Daune's Poetree, The Black Shamrock, The Anti-Heroin chic, and Under The Bleachers.

Terrain by Susan Tepper

Ice trails sluice 

rock face 

spiraling down 

the mountain

where all spawns 

in darkness.

I once spoke your name.

By god it drove me

up a wall then down.

Those days we could 

flinch on a dime 

and walk away

still feeling brand new.

This time don’t let 

your guard drop.

The animals know 

to stay in hiding.

What of you—

giving away your last

best years

a desperate clutching 

at willowy limbs, vines 

just beyond reach

‘til your feet shoot out

from underneath

sliding—

tumbling—

taking the full brunt.

Susan Tepper is a twenty year writer in all genres, and the author of nine published books.  Her most recent are CONFESS (a poetry chapbook by Cervena Barva Press, 2020) and a quirky road novel WHAT DRIVES MEN (Wilderness House Press, 2019).  Currently Tepper is in pre-production of an Off-Bdwy play titled THE CROOKED HEART which she based on artist Jackson Pollock’s later years.

www.susantepper.com