a journal of beautiful literature
by MIKE JAMES The Prettiest Boy at the Dance for D.J. Has pinked-tipped hair, longer than his sister’s. Practices biting his lower lip in every available mirror. Loves soft light for what it does to his complexion. Is haughty and tearful in the same glance. Dreams less at night than during day. Mines […]
Read More The Prettiest Boy at the Dance / Tell Us Something about Yourself Few People Knowby Howie Good Today’s rain falls on yesterday. You rush from one side of town to the other, trying to fulfill ancient prophecies while God’s bearded face sways above you. Dogs howl ceaselessly as though protesting how important man is. It isn’t quite night yet. There are doors that only seem to open and never […]
Read More POSTMORTEMby Jason Heroux When I went to the hospital to visit my friend I saw the hospital was torn down, demolished, replaced by an auto repair garage. The receptionist led me into the main bay. Someone dressed in a mechanic’s jumpsuit stood near the hydraulic lift, wiping his hands with a greasy rag. “He wants […]
Read More When I went to…We wanted to go for a swim but the pond was an oval of green slime. A suspicious fog was rolling in but the real problem was the river, which had turned to poison. In a week we would see entire schools of dead fish floating downstream, their white bellies turning in the black water […]
Read More DON’T TELL THE WOLVES by Brad LieningEdvard Munch: Self-Portrait in Hell He was convinced, as usual, that he was about to suffer a complete breakdown. The day’s work had begun badly and gotten worse with each additional brush stroke. He squinted at the muddled canvas on the easel as though it were someone else’s, the fantastical product of a stranger’s delirium. […]
Read More FOUR POEMS, prose poetry by Howie GoodFetishism Fetishism is a pathological disorder characterized by a peeping creep stealing your panties from the drier while you were down the block at the café sipping a cappuccino and talking to a neighbor about how hard it is to meet straight men in the city. The fetishist usually holds the desired object and […]
Read More THREE PROSE POEMS by Jeffrey ZableLast night the wind came up out of the south. I could hear it lifting the trees in the yard and banging against the aluminum storm window. I pulled the blanket higher after punching the pillow into its original thickness. The house rested in stillness, dark rooms spilling into the darker hallway. My wife, […]
Read More THIEVES AT NIGHT by Al OrtolaniAcadian Shore Even the plants are dangerous on the Acadian shore where the tides run as tall as a tree and the water remains frigid all year, the forests stumble over the cliffs retreating to the sea from the bogs and eskers, the blood red fields of blueberry bushes, the caribou plains and granite […]
Read More 2 Prose Poems by Michael McInnis