Bright Shine By Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

Down by the river

I found a finger.

Who lost it?

It is a fat finger.

It has a ring with a bright shine.

It is night.

I have insomnia.

I look at the moon.

It too has a bright shine.

Soon I will be home.

Somewhere someone

is somewhere else

who lost a fat finger

and a shiny ring.

Luis lives in California and works in Los Angeles in the mental health field. His latest book, Make the Water Laugh, was published by Rogue Wolf Press. Recent work has appeared in Ariel Chart, Blue Collar Review,

Dope Fiend Daily, Rye Whiskey Review, and Unlikely Stories.

 

This House By Kevin M. Hibshman

It was supposed to represent new beginnings.

You had visions of living in it as a child.

We were going to keep busy maintaining it.

You had plans to paint the walls.

We were going to entertain both new friends and old ones.

They would aid us in making a history that would gain richness

through the years.

I would write.

You would paint.

There would be unscripted adventures.

Surprises that help keep us alive.

We filled it with plants the cats set about savaging.

Their antics eased the disappointment and sacrifice.

You grew weaker as I cowered in the corners.

None of the many doctors had much to say.

The appliances all began to break down.

I doubted they would ever be replaced.

Kevin M. Hibshman has had poems published in many journals and magazines world wide.

 In addition, he has edited his poetry zine, Fearless, since 1990 and is the author of sixteen chapbooks including Love Sex Death Dreams (Green Bean Press, 2000) and Incessant Shining (Alternating Current, 2011).

His current book Just Another Small Town Story from Whiskey City Press is currently available on Amazon.

Parallel Lines by Susan Isla Tepper

Not remembered—

Any clock.  

Parallel lines through 

a desert where

water was impossible.

We came through it

delivered our goods

turned back.

Marked time’s

infinity in space.

Night dropped blind

as a mask.

Once in a while

it blew in, violent.

Almost reluctant,

shrinking the shadows.

Susan Isla Tepper is a twenty years published writer in all genres.  Her current project is an Off-Broadway Play on the subject of art and life.

A Favour By Ian Lewis Copestick

I really don't know
if I am ready to meet
another woman yet,
after my wife dying
only nine months ago.

I don't know if I am
ready for another
sexual relationship.

So, I'm asking my
friends, will you let
me borrow your
partners ?

Just as a kind of
experiment ?

I'll spend the night
with your wives, and
girlfriends.

I'm not saying that
anything is going to
happen.

It probably/possibly won't.

But, you'll be doing me
a really good favour.

I'd really appreciate it.

I mean, we are friends
aren't we ? 

Ian Lewis Copestick is a 48 year old writer (I prefer that term to poet ) from Stoke on Trent, England. I spend most of my life sitting,  thinking then sometimes writing. I have been published in Anti Heroin Chic, the Dope Fiend Daily, Outlaw Poetry, Synchronized Chaos, the Rye Whiskey Review, Medusa's Kitchen and Horror Sleaze Trash.