Thursday, January 26, 2023

Lemon-Lime by Susan Isla Tepper

While the snow was coming down

you bought a coat of lemon-lime

to trick the summer 

to racing back 

so we could sit outside 

again in metal slat chairs

red or blue

arranged in no particular order 

as though strong breezes 

had made the decision

turned them this way and that 

across a grey slate patio 

the spread of market umbrellas 

we might be able to laugh again



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.

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Unmasked Instances by Lenore Collins

My love, is it a violation or mercy killing, that awaits the mundane.

Does the trap resemble an escape or just provide a means to an end?


Is it a burden to face the sun's inevitable rise?

Can we somehow share the pain in one another's downfall?


The ceremony represents an act that  is to suit the audience, never those within need.

Can we escape when all we've ever know is held within the confines of this cage?


I am visible, if only you choose to see.





Lenore Collins resides in North Carolina, where she writes poetry and fiction. Her work is dark and often horror based.

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

HOT/NOT by Susan Isla Tepper

You’re hot / you’re not
Get used to it, baby
‘Cause that’s how 
The cookie crumbles
To put it nicely
Keeping things in perspective
He liked your long legs
During the moment
They circled him
Then the explosion
And your legs
An after-thought
Forgotten in a kitchen raid
For any type of nuts
He was a nut freak
Apparently
Telling you to 
Keep some on hand.






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.

Saturday, January 14, 2023

The Fourth Wall by John Patrick Robbins

I now cling to a pillow, where once I did cling to another.
There is little comfort in this last stop-off before oblivion.

It's strange how I feel little to nothing anymore.
Sex is but a moment I can easily do without.

A drink goes down empty, as my thoughts on anything not fixated upon my demise.

There is an odd comfort in these last remaining glimmers of my final days’ existence.

I'm awaiting my sentence like some inmate trapped upon death row.
I am ready to leave, as the reader who has stuck it out for reasons unknown.

I pen their darkness and mutual misery.
They provide a means to pay the tab.
It's a victimless crime I suppose.

I know you're there and I play my role to perfection.
Who's the truly sick one in this equation?

Maybe it makes you uncomfortable and if so, imagine how the shoe is upon my foot.
This odd series is overdue for cancellation.







John Patrick Robbins, is the editor in chief of the Rye Whiskey Review and Black Shamrock Magazine.

His work has been published in Impspired Magazine,  Fearless Poetry Zine, Piker Press, Horror Sleaze Trash, The Dope Fiend Daily , Lothlorien Journal Of Poetry and It Takes All Kinds Literary Zine.

His new book is Are We Dead Yet? from Black Circle Publshing and is available on Amazon.

His work is always unfiltered.