Back Room, Dawn
a corner, a breath,
perfume memory in
the folds of boxes,
the edges of wounds.
nothing is stable—
the house forgets
which way leads out.
​​Betty Stanton (she/her) is a Pushcart nominated writer who lives and works in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in various journals and collections and has been included in various anthologies. She received her MFA from The University of Texas - El Paso and holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership. She is currently on the editorial board of Ivo Review. @fadingbetty.bsky.social
The Gods Have Escaped
The cloud hovered perpetually
over the inlet's wake,
best keep an eye on it.
Innocence transforms innocently or
assumptions make the most sense.
At this moment on the opposite shore,
survivalists are launching a boat.
This is like catching a break,
we're usually well into
the liturgy by now.
Colin James has a couple of chapbooks of poetry published. Dreams Of The Really Annoying from Writing Knights Press and A Thoroughness Not Deprived of Absurdity from Piski's Porch Press and a book of poems, Resisting Probability, from Sagging Meniscus Press. He lives in Massachusetts with two cats, Dorothy and Jane.
Low Profile
A Haibun
After ‘Self Portrait’ by C. D. Friedrich,
Dresden, September 7, 1800
​
​
​
He stares at the mirror with fascination,
sticks out his tongue moving his head side to side,
then grins sardonically, exposing the blackened gap
where his front tooth has fallen out.
He goggles his eyes into Wedgwood blue tea-saucers,
shifting his gaze left and right until he catches a ray
of sunlight on the knob of his nose-tip.
Squinting in satisfaction, Master Draughtsman
Caspar David Friedrich unwraps his charcoal pencils
and sets to work on his self-portrait.
‘Kaffee,’ the housekeeper mumbles, placing a silver tray
on his desk then rolling her eyes skywards
and sticking out her tongue as she walks away.
​
a mirror
within the mirror—my eyes
reflecting yours
Author of the debut novel Twelfth House, and Shaded Pergola, a collection of haiku with original illustrations, E.C. Traganas has published in 100+ literary magazines. A Juilliard-trained concert pianist and composer by profession, she has held over forty nationally-curated exhibitions of her artwork, is founder/director of the NYC-based literary forum Woodside Writers, and Editor of The Woodside Review. www.elenitraganas.com
Moving mindless
ORANGE peels
baking
in the hot afternoon sun
I lie on the balcony
there is music in the street
I hear shadows echo
A taxi
moving mindless through Hamburg
17 years old drunk
singing Strawberry fields forever
Then at 21
dreamed in the street
imagining life
as an epilogue
to something
finer
Gary Cummiskey lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is the author of several poetry collections, the latest being Somewhere else (Graffiti, Kolkata, 2024). In 2025 Turquoise Press published a selection of his collages titled Renegade eye. In 2009, with Eva Kowalska, he published Who was Sinclair Beiles?, about the South African Beat poet.
Late Morning Armageddon
The last human on earth
stayed asleep,
ignoring her shrill alarm.
The bird outside her window
shrieked insistence.
Too early. Too late.
Even coffee
couldn’t save her.
It’s going to be a long
oblivion.
Leah Mueller's work is published in Rattle, Certain Age, Writers Resist, Beach Chair Press, NonBinary Review, Brilliant Flash Fiction, New Flash Fiction Review, Does It Have Pockets, Outlook Springs, Your Impossible Voice, etc. She has received several nominations for Pushcart and Best of the Net. One of her short stories appears in the 2022 edition of Best Small Fictions. Her fourteenth book, "A Pretty Good Disaster" was published by Alien Buddha Press in 2025. Check out more of her work at substack.com/@leahsnapdragon.
Above the car
mating flies swarm, so alive.
On the car, they die.
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Matthew James Friday is a British born writer and teacher. He has had many poems published in US and international journals. His first chapbook ‘The Residents’ was published by Finishing Line Press (2024). His second chapbook ‘The Be-All and the End-All’ was published by Bottlecap Press (2024). Bottlecap also published his third chapbook 'Strange Beauty' (2025). His first full length collection ‘Wunderkammer’ is due to be published by Kelsay Books (2026). Visit his website at http://matthewfriday.weebly.com
Poem the first
Here is a Mummy, made of tired.
She said she could do this. Oh, how she lied!
Poem the second
Here is a Daddy, made of old.
His face grows hair and his toes grow mold.
Tim Train is a Melbourne based poet, writer, and general weirdo. He has been weird in a performative manner in pubs, cafes, trams, on street corners, and all manner of strange locations all over the world. He MCs occasionally at Cherry Poets, his book 'Hangover Music' was published by Gininderra Press in 2017, oh, and he makes a lot of bizarre zines as well. Find out even less about him at instagram.com/timothytrain and facebook.com/thatweirdopoet