Uncle Jim
by peter meinke
What the children remember about Uncle Jim
is that on the train to Reno to get divorced
so he could marry again
he met another woman and woke up in California.
It took him seven years …

I’d Rather Be Showering.
by elizabeth c neavel

Seriously.
 
I just left the shower
to say
I love my pussy.
 
And that
all I wanted to do was take
one
slow
shower.
 
Cleanse my body.
My thoughts.
My soul.
 
But
all I did 
was stick my hand in the fast
hot …

Ode to Benny Hill: Scooby Doo Chase Scene
by matt miller
If I were a rich man,
Ya di da da da da da da da da da da da da da,
All day long, I’d eat spiders and …

old age arrives
by norm milliken
old age arrives

old age arrives
in a plain, brown box,
prepaid and taped
against intrusion.

loosely packed,
it rattles
in the handling,
invites curiosity and

with no return address
suggests
opening.

The writers guild local has a need to inform interested Texas writers that they are currently accepting submissions for their yearly Fiction Contest. They are a small venue so odds are in the writers favor …

Mr. Griffin’s Establishment for Gentlemen
by david macpherson
Of course there are a lot of strip bars to choose from. Naturally. But for us, we always go to Griffin’s. The strippers here go the extra mile to …

what they mean to say when they break your heart
by steven dondlinger
When I say I don’t love you
I mean you aren’t special. You are
like any other person on the street.
You are both unimportant
and unattractive …

disappearing act
by yossarian
you’ve gotta get to the liquor store
about noon
at ten
when they open
the hopeless are lined up
three deep
waiting to get in
and at midnight
well
we all know about liquor stores
at the last minute
but at noon
you can slip …

Joke in a Bank
by matthew rohrer
When you try to make a joke
in a bank
it falls flat
there’s an armed guard
standing there
wearing sunglasses indoors
motionless
but no one laughs
in fact my intentions
are misunderstood
no, no, I am just
going to walk …

SOMETIMES IT JUST TAKES THE RIGHT WORDS WITH THE RIGHT INFLECTIONS ABOUT THE RIGHT PIE WITH OF COURSE THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS AND THE PROPER BAKING TIME
by Ricky Garni
The way you describe banana cream pie could …

The Second Coming
by diy danna
I thought I loved the coolest guy in Austin once.
Craig Liszt.
He’s on the internet and plays keys,
but isn’t related to that Craig’s List or Franz.
Yet his simple strokes are genius …

unmated
by noel sloboda
It makes me feel no less empty that the third generation marmalade sentient robotic chair grew old before dying.
According to its manual, the chair was supposed …

What the Living Do
by marie howe
Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there.
And the Drano won’t work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up
waiting for …

butcher
by scott carroll
sitting up at 3 in the morning
reading her favorite writer’s poetry
he’s not rich
or famous
she helps him out
she does promotion work
they talk
she calls it her ‘work’
she works a lot
and I’m fucking her
but
I’m bathing in …

If You Google “Google” 100 Times Your Hard Drive Will Implode
by travis catsull
One of the things I do at work is filter through our “paid search” leads. This means we pay Google to send daily …

The Natural Course of Things
by jenny ljungqvist
The sand on the beach is rocky, the water frigid.
Like the schoolmarm’s severe silver bun
it is stern and unforgiving.
But the way the sunlight hurtles across time and space
to claim …

Dirty Joke
by rachel berry
A husband and a wife walk into a bar.
They are, of course, not each other’s.
Just lovers, just for a while, for now
and how this escalator to the bottom
of the ocean will end …

25 Lighters
by pat a physics
My poor neighbor died yesterday from a heart attack and
I couldn’t stop myself from trespassing in his yard.  He
had all of these trees that were shooting out of these
chickenwire stone enclosures …

Letting go of handshakes
by halifax
Elegy to a Terminal Acquaintance
You tragically dead hero
So stoic in brief bereavement.
They filed you impeccably dead,
Stored under dirt in a boxed suit.
The stone placard vitae
Rambles thru an accurate
Tight graven word count,
Impressing …

milk and honey
by oscar smiles
two times is plenty
no less is fine
eeny meeny miney mo
i found a penny
i found in you a meanie
i found a tranny
i found on her a panty
i found on her a …

Tea After Dali
by george moore
Some sort of ragtag boat
dripping blue blood lifted up
toward the painted Heaven
blocks the good shots of the tapestry
made of the almost ridiculously
famous and somehow static
melting clocks, above a beautifully
out of date …