Friday, May 22, 2020

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

Monday, May 11, 2020

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

Don't Eat Paint Chips Or Become A Poet By JPR

"Hey, is your mag open to submissions?" I run a daily unless the voices tell me not to because they want to party. "The mag i...