Upside Down by Susan Tepper

As the world flipped 

upside down 

sparked a realization: 

become a criminal.

It brewed my mind 

a cold dark muck

like old coffee grounds

leftover in a one cupper

filter: useless 

but for the rank odor

I might be persuaded.

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 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

You Got What You Wanted by Ian Lewis Copestick

well, you've got what you wanted, you've got me out of your place. I knew you didn't love me, but I didn't think it was hate. There's a burning feeling, in my chest, and my throat. My skin feels like it's peeling, from me like a cheap coat. I knew it wasn't love, I didn't think it was hate. You peeled me off like gloves, I had no clue it was too late. I knew it wasn't love, never guessed it was hate, when push comes to shove, I was always too late. So now you've got what you wanted, me out of your place. I never thought that you loved me, I should've known it was hate.

Ian Lewis Copestick is a 46 year old writer (I prefer that term to poet ) from Stoke on Trent, England. I spend most of my life sitting,  thinking then sometimes writing. I have been published in Anti Heroin Chic, the Dope Fiend Daily, Outlaw Poetry, Synchronized Chaos, the Rye Whiskey Review, Medusa's Kitchen and Horror Sleaze Trash.