The Meat Eater
by nathaniel kostar
She said,
I am a vegetarian because I find the treatment of animals and the meat industry in this country to be appalling.
He said,
I am a meat eater because I find the …

Real Life
by kim addonizio
Here we walk without wallets,
no keys to anything. The gates
swing open, we move among the
cows, hot hills, at night through wet
foxtails; the kitchen light hums
winged things circle it. Yesterday
you slit a …

this is all retrospective
by stacey shapiro
death
she was always sexier than life
but both sisters have a gravity
that everybody secretely dreads
they both weigh down on me
oh, they will not let any of us be
i heard the smiths …

Schrödinger’s poem
by jim benz
A semantic meaning is crafted within a poetic structure,
along with the following device (which must be secured
against direct interference by the meaning): in the final
strophe, there is a self-referential contradiction, so
insignificant that …

51 steps
by wynn everett
A. No Forest of Arden, forced forward
reverse, revolving in pattern,
contorting backward each rung.
Every strand of the prize in black and blue-
print, engine of fingers
gripping tight to the rail.
T. Unlocking remorse,
(men under the stairs)
if …

hello
by oswald james

i saw a fallen starburst
glowin ‘pon a rock ring
in the flicker of a water spark

i drowned in a sleep …

This weekend we launched a sister site to Haggard and Halloo called Blackbird Songs. It will do for music what Haggard and Halloo does for writing. We’re still building out the site and making additions …

finding gene
by pat a physics
Where did Gene Wilder go? Is he in a suburban neighborhood making cocktails and flirting with the Golden Girls? I miss him. He is a beacon of truth. …

red betta fish
by halifax
Seen the splice
a part in the lens
separating sides
my eyes move independently
the film watches me
disturbed sometimes
Edit when it happens
the film must be clean
the colored rocks
they warble in my mind
like distant relatives
better versions of …

Niantic
by sarah hannah
I always say, it must give way, it must all pass on
Soon, the husks, the frayed leaves clung to ossified sticks,
Illuminated by a flash of tedium: sleek
Silver Amtrak where I sit, a slow …

On The Electrodynamics of Dying Bodies
by kimberly e. ruth
*Title appropriated from Albert Einstein’s essay “On The Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” which introduced his theory of special relativity.
CONSEQUENCE ONE
It is titled War Execution. His face is …

The Opening Line
by michael hessel-mial
Something
punctures the center
of the surface,
but of what isn’t the surface
for long,
like a ball’s gravity
bending space
in an unseen dimension,
matter leaking towards the intersection,
the point of reference
that allows it all
to be seen through.
Punctuated
by …

Empire Virus
by will morris
Forget-Me-Not forgive me true in wolf tapestry in biotech.
Forget-Me-Not fader it low through semi-evergreens.
Forget-Me-Not fathom them full at terminal speed.
Forget-Me-Not furnish your heart until words roll back.
the end of a difficult …

We Can Smell Invisible
by dirk michener
Sometimes people can smell ghosts – or god or a miracle happening
Moving around doing invisible business
Producing it’s own rankness between sulfur and plasma
Much like lightening- invisibility strikes
It’s a …

The Incredible Kitten
by gene defcon
The incredible kitten
Puffed beyond all known
Limits of puffery
Debuts on my armrest
In time for the cop drama
We’ve both been anticipating

cinnamon toast crunch.
by ajezzy
today my grandma asked me how my weekend was, i wanted to tell her how
i would stumble from tequila shot to tequila shot. how i met a nameless jordan who threw me …

Who is this spammer that knows?
by joseph hargraves
Who is this spammer that knows
that I want Viagra? And cheap, no
prescription Vicodin? Who told him
I wanted a bigger dick? And to look at
big tits? He knows me …

nun-the-sabratical-wurst-for-where?
by quasimofo
 
‘Back away from the brightness
cause the brightness
creates blindness’ it said
to me,
as i F E L T in my arms
an in-love-with-love
M U S E
breathing
c a l m  k a p l u e y
into my ice …

sunny again
by drew degennaro
Mom and Dad
went back and forth
all over the house
chasing one another.
As clouds
threw chunks
of sour milk
at cars.
And us kids
crawled
under the kitchen table
pinning our ears
tightly against our heads
to muffle
the fight.
It got louder
and suddenly …

5:46 is Spring
by karl deiotte
I step outside
for a smoke
and all of a sudden
there’s birds
I’ve never heard
like southern Rockies
howler monkeys
and it smells
like fabric softener
and there’s a sprinkler
in some asshole’s
yard down the alley
and there’s mountains
I’ve never seen …

4
by mike meraz
my first memory of disappointment
was when I was 4.
I waited for the icecream truck
but it didnt come.
it came earlier in the day
and my mother had told me,
“wait it will be back.”
it never came …

Sterile
by ash bowen
Your sister can’t stop hurting when she sees children
laughing. They coil in her dreams, knees raised
to their stomachs, feet stamping their rhythms.
She’s reminded of high school, how she pulled up
her dress in loneliness …

I am you with teeth (a revelation inspired by Jerry Springer)
by kimberly e. ruth
You sit there smirking
marinating yourself in declarations of truth

Beings of proof that hate breeds hate
bang their heads against walls and ask
why.
How
could
you
sleep …