experimental poetry

Congenital Conditions by Daniel Wallock

~ Sophie Boyce ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes,
dreaming
in the
shower,
I forget
the scars.

This sometimes
is so
rare,
I can’t recall
the last time
I forgot
my heart.

Daniel’s writing has appeared in Burningword Literary Journal, Paragraph Planet, and The Bolt Magazine. He’s received four writing awards including first place in San Jose State University’s Nonfiction Short Story Contest. He also received a Gold Key for nonfiction, the highest regional honor, from Scholastic’s Art and Writing Awards. Daniel worked as manager of marketing at Ginosko Literary Journal and he’s founder of This Very Breath Journal.

Some Kind of Conversion: Half of a Conversation Overheard at Starbucks by Kenneth Nichols

~ Sophie Boyce ~ Leave a comment

…Yeah, so this atheist guy I’m talking to…

…Next semester, we’re doing a lot together…
…Having breakfast…
…Talking C.S. Lewis…
…He likes to work out…

…I refuse to do that with some of these guys, but he’s workable…

…He was Poli Sci, but now he’s going to law school…

…Yeah, the Christian Legal Society had a tremendous lawsuit two years ago because they wouldn’t allow homosexuals on the board…

…That’s what they’re about. They want to do stuff like that…

…And that’s another reason I want to go…

…I have no idea what that looks like…

…I’m praying God leads me though this long, arduous process…


Kenneth Nichols teaches writing at two colleges in Central New York. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Ohio State. (Go Bucks!) His work has appeared in publications including Coup d’Etat, Main Street Rag, Lunch Ticket, Prime Number, Skeptical Inquirer, the Tin House blog and PopMatters. He also reviews literary journals for NewPages, and 1.5 sentences of his work for the Not For Tourists Guide to Queens were quoted in The New Yorker.

Another Night Of The Living Dead by John Grey

~ Sophie Boyce ~ Leave a comment

She has recently returned from the dead.
Thankfully, her skin didn’t have time to rot
and her bones are still quite capable
of holding her flesh together.
Eyes green…check.
Intestines in working order…check.
Lungs… yes even the lungs
are inhaling, exhaling perfectly.
She’s not even coughing up dirt.
It’s a miracle.
No, not really-
More likely three a,m. on Sunday morning,
a mother’s vigil ended long before
in a deep couch sleep,
a father threatening to smash the guy’s face in
before he too succumbed to the call of weariness.
She’s back from the deadly car crash.
She’s awoken out of that drunken stupor.
Not even the rape and murder
has her looking blankly up at daisy roots
or crying out to the weevils,
“Come and get it!”
She’s tired and crawls into bed
without taking her clothes off.
Next morning, three corpses
swallow cornflakes, sip coffee,.
give life one more try.

John Grey is an Australian born poet. Recently published in Slant, Southern California
Review and Skidrow Penthouse, with work upcoming in Bryant Literary Magazine, Natural Bridge and Soundings East.

World’s Fair 10 by Glen Armstrong

~ Sophie Boyce ~ Leave a comment

The orchestra pit and the space-aged bear trap
Happen to be the toastmaster’s favorites

He studies the sounds of words in a vain
Attempts to protect his partner

There are several large circular platforms
and upon each a crouching figure

Time is reshaped extruded through the openings
A coarse coping skill lifts its leg

With such ease that gravity seems to have been made
Its bitch / Its best man and maid of honor

After all is said and done most of the fun
Took place back stage

Lips puckered and more than a few buttons
Launched into the void

We learned the true meaning of “loneliness”
and “genuine leather”

Day seventeen
We talk about AIDS

Day twenty-eight
We consider the lobster

The night before the closing ceremony
Someone delineates an elaborate hopscotch course
That extends from the midway to the setting sun

The night before the end of the world
We try to smile and clasp each other warmly
On the shoulders.

Glen Armstrong holds an MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He also edits the poetry journal Cruel Garters.

Wrong Man by Darren Cormier

~ Sophie Boyce ~ 1 Comment

Upon receiving a notice from his hometown to attend a ceremony in recognition of his
achievements, D. scribbles:

this man
this man who
this man who can’t
this man who can’t even
this man who can’t even finish
this man who can’t even write
this man who can’t even write a sentence
this man who can’t even write a sentence properly
this man who can’t even write a proper sentence
this man who can’t even write a sentence without

He throws each crumpled sheet of paper across the room toward the wastebasket, missing each
time. Another thing he can’t do.

Darren Cormier is the author of A LIttle Soul: 140 Twitterstories and the editor and creator of the collaborative project The Adventures of Tequila Kitty. His work has appeared in numerous publications including NAP, Vine Leaves Literary Journal, Amoskeag, meetinghouse, Thrice Fiction, and Opium Magazine, among many others. He lives in the Boston area with a growing collection of books.

Fallout by Zev Torres

~ Sophie Boyce ~ Leave a comment

To choose. To believe
that to choose matters. To
believe that to choose matters so
we choose. Then we hope that choosing
really does matter so we watch with our
attention spread and scattered and we listen
with acuity dulled by gadgets and
devices plugged into our ears
and we wait our awareness
fading our convictions
soaked and wind-torn
for a revelation
that confirms
our faith
or
at least
justifies our
apprehensions.

 

Zev Torres’ poetry has appeared in numerous print and on-line publications, including Estrellas En El Fuego, Maintenant 6, and the June 2012 edition of Bare Hands. He has published three chapbooks and is the founder of the Skewered Syntax Poetry Crawls. Since 2008, Zev has hosted Make Music, New York’s annual Spoken Word Spectacular.

Mouth by John Boucher

~ Sophie Boyce ~ Leave a comment

I.
in the valley of the tongues
what houses but bumps

what field but the space between
whispers, enameled flowers

II.
that country she knows and yearns

and must return where coal sky
churns and snows diamond dust

III.
meanwhile mouth a chamber
tooth walls and skin roof

behold yawp light
air horn cry then
chamber collapse

house of words become home
sometime to gnashing fury of morsel motion
later walls scrubbed clean of debris

beware: somewhere coverings
may muzzle taboo puffs of air

IV.
if you seek weapon simply speak
and slay me with your glottal rock

 

John Boucher is a member of the inaugural cohort of the MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics at the University of Washington – Bothell. His background includes work in film theory and production. He is the editor of the independent feature film “Heart Breaks Open;” the founding member of the Seattle-based writing collective Les Sardines, which publishes bi-annually a literary journal called “Les Sar’zine;” and the co-creator of “The IIWII Project,” where he co-creates and posts daily extemporized mash-ups of text and images, with artist Aaron Morgan.