Darken My Doorstep, Never My Grave By John Patrick Robbins

Because the drinks will be far better shared than spent speaking to shadows out of the madness that is isolation.

I was sad, but you were something so significantly worse.

A false friendship in hopes of gaining what I would have gratefully have given away.

The bourbon contained fire where I had long since lost all true passion.

But my companionship was real, as fake was your true character.

It seems I was alone even amongst your company.

So I guess I was fucked from the start.

Truth never wavers as the pavement does not give an inch.

I was miles ahead and lost from the start.

John Patrick Robbins, is a Southern Gothic writer, whose work has appeared in Schlock Magazine, Horror Sleaze Trash, Lucifers Retreat, Fearless Poetry Zine, Lothlorian Journal Of Poetry, Impspired Magazine, Fixator Press and Disturb The Universe.

His current book is Midnight Masochism and is published by Black Circle Publishing and available on Amazon.

His work is always unfiltered.

https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Masochism-John-Patrick-Robbins/dp/B0CRQD523K

Radiant Sun Splashed By Susan Isla Tepper

   (In Loving Memory of Karen Friedland)

Another death has come 

to call

despite the trees abloom

and daffodils riotous in the grass.

Her house looks so pretty

in the pictures.

The front porch rejuvenated

sparkles—

and the neat backyard’s  

brick pathway, 

flowering beds along the fence.

Inside, every little corner. 

Tucked with cuttings 

the bright pots painted 

by some brave hand

in some land.

When I saw the picture

of her new kitchen floor—

radiant sun splashed

I felt a positivity

come ringing at her door.

Susan Isla Tepper is a twenty year writer in all genres. Her stage play "Crooked Heart" will be featured in Origin Theatre Company 'May Play Festival', NYC.

OLD CAFE By Strider Marcus Jones

a rest, from swinging bar

and animals in the abattoir-

to smoke in mental thinks

spoken holding cooling drinks.

counting out old coppers to be fed

in the set squares of blue and red

plastic tablecloth-

just enough to break up bread in thick barley broth.

Jesus is late

after saying he was coming

back to share the wealth and real estate

of capitalist cunning.

maybe. just maybe.

put another song on the jukebox baby:

no more heroes anymore.

what are we fighting for-

he's hiding in hymns and chants,

in those Monty Python underpants,

from this coalition of new McCarthy's

and it's institutions of Moriarty's.

some shepherd’s sheep will do this dance

in hypothermic trance,

for one pound an hour

like a shamed flower,

watched by sinister sentinels-

while scratched tubular bells,

summon all to Sunday service

where invisible myths exist-

to a shamed flower

with supernatural power

come the hour.

Strider Marcus Jones – is a poet, law graduate and former civil servant from Salford, England with proud Celtic roots in Ireland and Wales. He is the editor and publisher of Lothlorien Poetry Journal https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/. A member of The Poetry Society, his five published books of poetry  https://stridermarcusjonespoetry.wordpress.com/ reveal a maverick, moving between cities, playing his saxophone in smoky rooms.

  

His poetry has been published in numerous publications including: The Huffington Post USA; The Stray Branch Literary Magazine; Crack The Spine Literary Magazine;The Lampeter Review and Dissident Voice.

Meaty Words By Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal

I struggle in my search for meaty words.

I know no confabulatory myths.

The words slip like rain through my mind.

I am groping in darkness where my heart

is permanently living in the night.

I cannot conjure magic or clever tricks of

the craft. I turned over tables and throw

chairs searching for answers. Day turns

to twilight and I have nothing of substance.

I offer flowers to the drunken muse.

I go back to the beginning and start 

from scratch. This is where it will end.

Born in Mexico, Luis lives in California and works in the mental health field in Los Ángeles. His poems have appeared in Ariel Chart, Fearless, Mad Swirl, The Rye Whiskey Review, and Unlikely Stories.