Saturday, June 20, 2020

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

Thursday, June 4, 2020

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.

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...