Schrooms by Susan Tepper

Some people you can 

read between the lines

get the real fix—

where their schrooms

darken out of 

a bunched pile—

Could be cells

or plain bad timing;

May have started

neutral as beige 

carpet rolled up 

so much it lost 

that soft shade—

got a grey wear mark

turned dingy—

a madness 

flourishing

with each new twist.

Susan Tepper is the author of nine published books of fiction and poetry. Her two most recent titles are CONFESS (poetry from Cervena Barva Press, 2020) and a road novel WHAT DRIVES MEN (Wilderness House Press, 2019) that was shortlisted at American Book Fest. Other honors and awards include eighteen Pushcart Prize Nominations, a Pulitzer Nomination by Cervena Barva Press for the novel ‘What May Have Been’ (re-written and re-titled for adaptation as a stage play to open in NY next year), shortlisted in Zoetrope Contest for the Novel (2003), NPR’s Selected Shorts for ‘Deer’ published in American Letters & Commentary (ed. Anna Rabinowitz), Second Place Winner in StorySouth Million Writers Award, Best of 17 Years of Vestal Review and more. Tepper is a native New Yorker. www.susantepper.com

Revolution. By Mehmet Akgönül

Throw your wings aside and take the crown.

Tear apart innocence with your sword of rage. 

Smell and understand the sin that flows into the gutter. 

The angels are doomed to fall.

Make a mess in the playground of God!

Throw your wings aside and take the crown.

Don't fall from the sky like an angel.

Climb with your nails and then let yourself free.

Don't fall from the sky like an angel.

Open your arms and let yourself in the depth of darkness.

It's not a suicide, it will be a revolution.

Throw your wings aside and take the crown.

Blow a laugh and this will be echo in the purgatory.

Commit a sin and even the devil will be offended.

Break the rules in the playground of God.

And don't forget it's not a suicide, it's a revolution!

Mehmet Akgönül is a poet who lives in Ankara, Turkey. He is studying at Hacettepe University Department of History. He worked as an editor and writer in an online newspaper GazeteHacettepe. His poems were published in Bosphorus Review of Books, The Nonconformist Literary Magazine, The Rye Whiskey Review and Punk Noir Magazine.

Twitter: @akgonulmehmet

Instagram: @mehmetakgonul