One fanciful Calcutta summer the world maps were ripped off from overused geography textbooks in an act of innocent revolution. You cherry-picked ecstatic reds from sunsetty Russian sky-palettes, scooping […]
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Category: Poetry
“Synthlipsis Greggii” by Hart L’Ecuyer
The war brought a boost to the flowermen’s activities, to which were added antiwar agitation among keelpods & rounding up draft dodgers. The great wave of immigration in the 1880’s […]
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“Concurs” by Sanjeev Sethi
Not like in the motion pictures but we had our moments. There is no record, no pesky scribe seeking the “hows” and “whys” of it. No scoops, no cover stories. […]
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“Almost Rimbaud” by Mary Shanley
I live in the pulse of unconscious patterns. My civilized mind remains incapable of interpreting the illuminated life I experience outside the limits of ordinary consciousness. Today, I am an […]
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“Auscultation” by Sanjeev Sethi
Halcyon and hurtful coexist in an apiary. On helicon’s rote appropriate ones reveille. In the middle of a horseshoe of memories I mime the lines I need to hear. They […]
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“Everyday I am Born Like This” by Abhilipsa Sahoo
everyday I am born like this – nothing ever happens for the first time I collect my shattered promises and get back home to my frailty the neon sign does […]
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“Game [ON]” by Henry Crawford
[w]ham-o Sam-o [Suitors Up!] [yellow] [look out!] [look out!] rainbows of [arrows] candies of crushes [beads] and bangles [open the vessels] hit it now [hit it] rack up the [hearts] […]
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“Dark Side Whispers” by Ken Allan Dronsfield
Unrelenting passion in a sonneteers delusion moving in rhythm with the windblown grasses hand in hand on a path through the hemlocks written vows of brazenness within a sensation. Transactional […]
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“7820 miles” by Snata Bose
How can I forget you If your breath is on my skin, A peppermint sweet cloaked around my neck, Hair chaotic against my chest, Eyes as dreamy where my Eden […]
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“Stewed and Strained” by RK Taylor
comforting chatter from front-facing seat soothing justified cries in empathetic debate smoothing frosting onto clumping, cracked cake overflowing trashcan. No—it can wait Chemicals carve; his burning brain. supplanting endurance for […]
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“Why I Should Probably Quit” DS Maolalai
the click of the corkscrew against the bottle and art tore up and destroyed with matches. I see poetry now full of people wearing shirts and very tight jeans to […]
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“A New Kind Of Love” by Sanbud Tehrani
It may not get any better Despite the that’ll-do-pig-that’ll-do condescending words of some highly carcinogenic celebrity whose comparative lifestyle may as well make them a three-eyed telepathic Venusian with ten […]
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“Monograph” by Gary Glauber
Home, a major chord, played to sustain. Pattern of wallpaper’s texture ingrained into décor of mind. As chorus hook plays over reminisced wonder, synapses fire to warm chills of time […]
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“I Hid to Never Emerge” by Suvojit Banerjee
The snow in my lawn isn’t white. It is rusty like the color of my flowerpot. “Papa, can I go out and make a snowman?” howls my son. I say […]
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“Teeter-Totter” by Sanjeev Sethi
Spindrift from your biocellate field leaves me smooth and serene, your voice hijacks my uneasiness. In the parlor of our pact flurries of foregoing circuits miss their bourn. In […]
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“Exit” by Anupama Kadwad
I force myself to open the closed lids To catch a glimpse of my surroundings Try my utmost to overcome the lethargy Shake myself free of the stupor Tiredness which […]
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“Red Wine for Winter” by DS Maolalai
the snow melts grey into late december and mean music is making a sudden comeback in the bars saxophones and tatters of rattled live drumming after that santa stuff’s been […]
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“Modern Sunsets” by M. A. Istvan Jr.
daytime gutter vomit scared to change your way from one that has been making you money color-segregated schools for the blind the increasing pressure to pass— indeed, identify—as one of […]
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“Pledge” by Sheikha A.
Some lands are royalty in just existence: the dragging of the boat from sand to sea, the thick of the tongue on the roof of the mouth – that is […]
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“This is not a Democracy!” by Sanbud Tehrani
“This is not a Democracy!” More equals loss… Fight like this great and disgusting world is laughing at us. We let this happen, we march and stop. The phoney made […]
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“Cold Frame” by Sanjeev Sethi
Love like Eucalyptus or Lavender was sabuline. Cacoethes for your company I understand now: the arenosity I had to encounter by cholla-like jabs too. Nursery a green-thumber creates when […]
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“Sea Moon” by Sheikha A.
A road divider on our thoroughfare has been constructing since three major eclipses, going under the idea scalpel by fickle engineers – flowers or trees – it’s a hard decision […]
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“How to Draw a Circle” by Damian Campana
Damian Campana is a Creative Writing student at a community college in Rochester, NY. He is an aspiring creator. He is passionate about telling stories through different aspects of […]
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“untitled” by Darin Milanesio
Life is supposed to be music But we are the notes not the listeners Maybe we are God’s music Chords being strummed on some cosmic level Leftover reverberation echoing from […]
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“Thoughts of Steak Tartare” by Ken Allen Dronsfield
Can your mind sustain the burden for the beating heart to heave? Will you bare the heaviness of being within a lightness of the form? Does the little weevil relent […]
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A poem from Simon Perchik
Editor’s Note: Per the author’s request, we have left this piece untitled. * These crumbs are from so many places yet after every meal they ripen sweeten in time for […]
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Excerpt From “We Three Kings” by D.M. Rice
D.M. Rice is a non-binary writer from Dallas, TX whose work has been featured in the Aletheia Journal, Sybil, The Bandit Zine, and the anthologies Rec*og*nize, Nameless Woman, Kill Line, and […]
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“Occupy the Present” by Ken Allan Dronsfield
Whatever be the season, perhaps you are the reason, for the shadowed man whom limps down the narrow lane. With help of a burled cane, or such unequivocal refrain within […]
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“Stag” by Megan Denese Mealor
Megan Denese Mealor has been published widely in numerous journal, most recently Children Churched & Daddies, Beakful, streetcake, and Harbinger Asylum. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her debut poetry collection, […]
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“Four Teacups” by Irtika Kazi
Four tea cups lay unattended since Mittag – on the black, bedraggled table in the canteen. You and I – drinking each other in— Slow, dainty sips. Each tea […]
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“The Clues Within an Adirondack Glade: Son to Father” by Greg Lucas
Now that you’ve passed-through woods deeper and darker than these — climbed into eternity — can you tell me, when our hearts stop, and we’re poised among the mysteries that […]
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“The Laptop of God” by KG Newman
You’d expect the power button to be a rare diamond fueling a holographic desktop, folders overflowing in bitcoin. Or that answers just appear, thoughts as search engines. But in fact […]
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“To Know Life, To Fight Unarmed” by Sarah Kersey
To know life is to greet knowing you won’t unmeet. To know life is to see your creators split into demigods, degrading into man and woman. They can’t be fixed; […]
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“Half-Dream” by Ann Christine Tabaka
Gilded morning shatters sleep, dreams cling on with tenacious teeth. A confused reality sorting through a fragmented emotional state. Warm bed, cold toast. Sensations linger throughout the day. A […]
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“Night” by Chestina Craig
I have been raised to fear my footfalls in the dark to be a walking skirt is to sacrifice safety, sway like an open gate for danger. but I collect […]
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Mother Rips my Roots by Jasmine King
With Lines from “The Apple Trees at Olema” by Robert Hass Shakes me by the raw, white, backlit flaring of her lightning streaked hand. Fingers whip, burn my veiny branches […]
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“Heartbreak Search History” by Elizabeth Reitzell
can people see when you look at their facebook calories in chocolate shake calories in wendys chocolate frosty how to get into hiking hiking for depression hiking for people who […]
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“He Stared Down the Barrel of a Gun and He Saw Me” by Stephanie Luka
I watched you slide swiftly into the fog encapsulating Eagle Junction railway station. Scraps of rust leaking with oil-stained dew flung into the past, and in the faint glinting of […]
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“Skin” by Chestina Craig
SKIN is the bodies first line of defense. our metal shell wrap-around sometimes, your body can confuse fortress for prison, my mother is able to show me exactly where the […]
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“The Plum Tree” by Ken Allan Dronsfield
How did the despair become fluid for clear, dry eyes to shed? Why did the burden on the heart allow the stress and cause the beat to finally stop […]
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“War Paint” by Linda Imbler
Tonight the battle will begin. But first, as the concealer smooths across my eye folds, I picture her breathlessly saying hello to him, always making sure to say his name […]
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“Old Photos” by Pat St. Pierre
I never saw my mother smoke; didn’t smell her lingering breath or see her brown stained teeth; nor did I take in the stench of the smoke. I was told […]
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“Lexical Proverbs Newly Discovered” by Yuan Changming
No art without startle No belief without a lie No character without an act No business without sin No coffee without a fee No culture without a cult No entrance […]
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“Soft Dismount” by Matt Gillick
A Gymnast propels through the air after launching off the springboard. Camera flashes capture blurry movements: Facebook posts for later, if She wins. Judges dress in hooking avenue suits, out […]
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“Eight Hour Sunder” by Edward Hemstreet
Do not let this be the end. Do not bisect, dissect our time with before and after, with Now and Never. Do not spill […]
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“At What Price” by Ann Christine Tabaka
He stood outside the door asking for directions, lost hope in hand. Paying the toll with a pocketful of dreams. Aspirations evaporating at the sound of his own voice. A […]
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I Am Scared of the Night by Indunil Madhusankha
As the dusk creeps through the summit the once luscious sun dips below the rocky mounts And flocks of birds soar away weaving intricate patterns in the grayish sky Thus […]
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“Beware of the Quiet” by Ann Christine Tabaka
Do not allow the quietness that saturates the halls of night break through the dawn. For it will shatter all perception of time and space, grabbing reality by […]
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“Oh, What the Hell” by Ken Allan Dronsfield
Gracefully inept at life’s perfection gleefully disorganized and simple who put the milk in the top freezer? Sometimes I think gremlins reside here glowing and rising with the autumn sun […]
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“Daymare” by Ann Christine Tabaka
Fragments of dreams scattered among the ruins of once lofty ambitions, buried along with lost loves and white lace promises Standing tall against the crumbling visions. Whispers of gargoyles devouring […]
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“Shakespeare in the Dark” by Peter Streitz
The tweeker’s Boggy, alcoholic eyes Bulged unblinkingly Within inches of mine Setting the stage For mere players In this mosh pit At the intersection of ol’Frisco And modernity While the […]
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“You and I” by Shah Tazrian Ashrafi
You were the ocean foams, and I was the golden grains of sand. You were the heron that flew above, and I was the salty air that your wings collided […]
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“No Room in the Rubble” by Khalid Abu Dawas
I used to pray for a wild soul risky enough to give me part of herself when she knows it is likely I will not come back when she knows […]
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“Dead Self thoughts reincarnated in words” by Stela Xega
Darling, listen. no matter what we do our fingers will end up blistered, our palms bloody if we look into the mirror long enough to know anything, if we pull […]
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“Attic Kitty” by Anna Keeler
Someone would love to have you for a daughter; Wouldn’t mind you in the attic, stealing their things. The walls would be yours, as would your body And four […]
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“I Spit Dust” by Darin Milanesio
The fog was making whispering sounds It was rising up from the earth Like spirits from the past I spit dust from my mouth Just to prove I’m a […]
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“The Couple Almost” by John Grey
She camouflaged herself at a darkened far table, idled away time by tapping a spoon against her drink glass; on the opposite side of the hall, similarly nervous and […]
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“a blason from the crossfaded” by Connor Chapman
A very pretty girl wears the same brown clogs every day sometimes. Between all the rain-soaked steps we took and the part where she left, she joked, “These are my […]
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“To the Best” by Anna Keeler
We sit on the precipice of Heaven and pollution; you hand Me an empty box and promise Desultory protection. Our bodies, superimposed From two different tangles of lake water […]
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“Twilight’s Crescendo” by Ken Allan Dronsfield
absent of pearls in a grand ocean mollusk crying self righteousness without salty tears seeking to find truth in an unrelenting fervor see the dark drift in during a twilight […]
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“How We Love” by Lauren Brodowski
Sometimes I like to reimagine religion and the stories I was told as a child, so that it fits the way I understand the world now. I tell myself it […]
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“If I Were to Outlive You” by Ellen Webre
If I were to outlive you, I would feel the poet in me blackening, nails pulling in like a sea of petals in the mouth at the end of the […]
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“Masquerade” by Laurie Frisbey
I reveal the parts I want you to see you think you know me masquerade ugly thoughts inside my head mourning at the side of a haunted bed empty womb […]
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“Judy and Modern Medicine” by John Grey
The doctor’s handsome and that makes it worse… more bad news from the lips of handsome men. We need more tests, he says. Well no lover ever put it in […]
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“Hypertension” by Maya Castleman
Hypertension: Each bus line a grime-filled artery, Each soup line snaking concrete corners, slithering in human filth like wet soil, wet and thick and fast like noseblood; Each […]
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“Word Supreme” by Clint Keller
What I’m saying right now is meaningless – because a word spoken alone is a word spoken in vain. Like a tree falling in an empty forest, I may as […]
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“The Pissing Contest” by Laurie Frisbey
Let’s make this a pissing contest. Place your bet with mine. I’m bound to win if winning means a longer yellow line. ‘Cause yellow’s the color of smiley faces, Daffodils […]
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“Traffic Kids” by Farah Billa
I don’t think in Bengali, I think it is just one of those things that fold my body the way my grandfather used to. At least that’s what my mother […]
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“Water” by Gabby Catalano
“He laid his head in my palms And I watched as he grew a garden of roses Across a dying field. He had the power to entrap me in flesh […]
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“On South Providence Road, 11:34 PM” by Tonya Eberhard
Catacombs and catastrophe fill my head. I cannot sleep. We end up going for a drive. The car pushes past streetlights and traffic stops— little by little the comfort of […]
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“Get Up Get Down Get Outro” by Taylor Han
I’ve spent the last two years trying to figure out how to pull this trigger finger from my mouth and blast the sour blackness out into the sunshine. I had been […]
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“Shadows” by Hanoch Guy
I. I jump at the slightest touch on my cracked back. Fierce mountain wind rushes around me. My ears, too long and pointy. A cold hand on my forehead makes […]
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“Vienna Night 3: Brazilian Exchange Students” by Jesse Swire
portuguese lyric lilt xe’s, lifting ocean inflection lifted south american toneflexing a talker’s tongue one ganders in psychadelic wonder when they codeswitch– one is jealous my rudimentary spanish gives nothing, […]
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“The Soul is Water” by Sudeep Adhikari
A blank is waiting to get painted, a bank shimmers with slimes and silt. I have waited for you; liquid caresses, and the kisses of ether, and fires of cloud. […]
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“Sunday School” by Natalie Crick
Madeline loves it And sits as Mother would. The priest is like her Father Dressed all in grey, Palms fluttering with Paper clowns, Legs and arms spinning anti-clockwise Like the […]
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“Rowena’s Poetry” by John Grey
She reads new poetry in old settings, antique store turned coffee house, dressed in black sweater, skirt and stockings, perched on the edge of a table. a lotus sipping coffee […]
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“A Passage” by Irsa Ruçi
This one’s a very special post. We’re presenting to you the work of the highly accomplished Albanian Poet Irsa Ruçi, both translated, and in its original language. Irsa Ruçi […]
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“Interview with a Children’s Book Author” by Ben Nardolilli
Success is a function of desire when I was younger it evolved into an adrenaline addiction Instead of running from death I decided to chase it and ultimately set the […]
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“Confessionals” by Chestina Craig
I’m always finding myself writing about fire Maybe because I always got so much to burn maybe cause I’m a fire sign it’s easy because I smell a hint of […]
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“Omen Sketches” by Rachelle Pinnow
Rachelle Pinnow is also a professional geologist and a part-time writer. A graduate of the University of Calgary’s creative writing program, her short stories and poetry have been published in […]
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“Twilight’s Drift” By Ken Allan Dronsfield
Reason for waking, lofty faded dreams soft steps in grass eyes raised skyward Brisk breeze blows wind swirls on water geese march in air reality softly fades. Flame tip to […]
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“Crazy at the Viper” by Ben Nardolilli
I joined the most well-adjusted band in America. My fault for believing. After twenty days and twenty nights I lost my lease on life with them. From them on, […]
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“Girl” by Chestina Craig
I used to think girl meant pink meant birthday cake roses wilting for safety & always use your inside voice but sometimes it means shout and they will still ignore […]
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“Diamondsuit” by Rachelle Pinnow
Rachelle Pinnow is also a professional geologist and a part-time writer. A graduate of the University of Calgary’s creative writing program, her short stories and poetry have been published in […]
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“Fireworks and Supernovas” by Jack Madeira
You can cage me in fireworks But I won’t wither from entropy I was once resilient to the loss Or maybe I just absorb it now Like those sun panels […]
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“This is not a Political Poem” by Addison Namnoum
Addison Namnoum and The Metaworker Editorial Staff would like to dedicate this poem to the victims of the Orlando shooting, and to their friends, families, and lovers. This is a […]
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“Conversations with Carbon” by Chestina Craig
I ask carbon, what does it feel like to be backbone? To have multiple arms? To be mother to all of me. Mother to all of them? She says, […]
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“On Fainting in Tube Stations” by Carter Vance
I don’t want that smart bomb sort of love, that painless thing all beset with clang of rust knife, mouse click, screen swipe, before you meet to touch. I wish […]
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“Eclipsed” by Matt Rouse
There is something he forgot Something he had do to today He stands in the driveway Next to the black BMW Taps his foot on the cracked cement Next […]
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“Shimmers of Time” by Ken Allan Dronsfield
Diamond shimmers within sand, an ardor in the moon’s brightness; a whisper. Stealing of devoted memories cast one’s heart off into eternity; the promissory. Talking of love and deep passions, […]
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“La Ciudad” by Ellen Zhang
Late night insomnia in la ciudad that never sleeps is a gift. I slip between the dusk, waltzing weaving between hum of streetlamp. Twirling in shadows and embellishing myself in […]
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“Insomuch, I can see” by Jordan Wirth
Is it a cricket, a refugee, chirping behind solid bars? Rub the legs, hope to see, there is nothing in the darkness. Close the eyes, look closer at the fate, […]
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“Seep” by Elizabeth Tyrell
Seep Thought like a torrent of water Seep- drip, drip, drip. Each mould to old ideas that drip into a now opened mind. In this sea I bathe […]
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“Clocks” by Matt Rouse
I have seven alarm clocks programed on my smartphone Which I place under my pillow at night Seven alarm clocks that are set 5 minutes apart Starting at 5:55 in […]
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“Every Night” by Ellen Webre
Every night I’ve lain awake with baited breath. Shadows flash across the ceiling as cars pass by the window. There is a woman out there, I know it, hissing at […]
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“It is Tuesday, November 3rd & I am Alive by Whatever Means Necessary” by Torrin Greathouse
Lightning strikes like the silhouette of the city and for a moment, the air blisters with Saint Elmo’s fire over the Arby’s sign. The pitch black sky thunders like […]
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“A Question Considered in a Pedal Car” by Ellen Webre
How am I fitting in this right now? It’s been years, centuries since I was small enough to terrorize villages and miniature pedestrians in this mighty blue vehicle. It has […]
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“Blossom” by Torrin Greathous
Torrin Greathouse is a Literary Journalism student and governing member of the Uncultivated Rabbits spoken word collective at UC Irvine. They were the 2015 winner of the Orange County Poetry […]
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Five Short Poems by Michael Cantin
Without Roots Without Roots this Ikea bed supports me just about as well as a twig supports a tree house Glue sticks Paper thin is the stuff of life; each […]
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“Symphorophilia, or Crash: 1898” by Michael Cantin
To the rail Taken under duress, mid congress, my petticoats torn, I find myself bound to the track. Ostensibly, for ransom. But who pray tell, sir, are you extorting? Your […]
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