Ayahuasca Twilight sport, ravenous to show in tainted lilies beyond the piano bench. Rain for days, profusion of yellow boxes that beat a tattoo on the roof of your car, the size of golf balls said that ever-happy newscaster. Your server takes a thousand orders a day, urinates in the gazpacho only when instructed by the mariachis dropping the C sharp in the third bar of “Like a Prayer” by two octaves. So far, no complaints, but four queries about …
Category: Poems
“An Imperfect Cook” and Other Poems by Kashiana Singh
An imperfect cook I often look up the recipes saved in a handmade diaryone I had brought along, it was sealed in a quilted bagof things, it was not one of brocade or of autumn richcolors, not like bags sealed with dowry, massive, final this bag was handmade, my dadi’s, not a quintessentialfeast of gold and zardozi of weddings, it was permeableof skin, muslin pores on its surface, colored in mustardof haldi, reminding me of dadi’s golden concoction withginger, honey …
Read More "“An Imperfect Cook” and Other Poems by Kashiana Singh"
“THE TUBER’S AROMA” & Other Visual Poems of Scent by J.I. Kleinberg
—About the Poet/Artist— J.I. Kleinberg’s visual poems have been published in print and online journals worldwide and were featured in a solo exhibit at Peter Miller Books, Seattle, in May 2022. An artist, poet, freelance writer, and three-time Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, she lives in Bellingham, Washington, USA, and on Instagram @jikleinberg. Read 5 more of her visual poems of scent HERE.
Read More "“THE TUBER’S AROMA” & Other Visual Poems of Scent by J.I. Kleinberg"
“Final Flourish” and Other Poems by John Muro
Final Flourish May’s final flourish and the lilacs have given up their priestly purple for a crestfallen brown, colors lifted and carried by minstrel winds to beds of irises, allium and meadow sage. With summer’s cruel advance, I imagine the hoarding of their fatigued fragrance in the tangled thrust of roots, abiding a cooler darkness until the earth first warms, breaks apart the frost, and calls upon the miracle of creation so they can once again extend their lazy heave …
Five Scent Poems by Joan Mazza
The Scent of Memory 12 You might think of mint as gum flavoring or what makes Polident tolerable. Sometimes it’s a scent made for savoring— candy canes on Christmas trees, delectable in cookies. Boxes full of peppermints take you back to the deep South’s mint juleps in tall glasses on your honeymoon trip. You imagined yourself with servants, not slaves, a belle in hooped skirts, eloquent and beautiful, your loving so fervent you’d never worry about breath mint. How odd …
Olfactory Report 9: Poetics of Scent by Catherine Haley Epstein + Poetry by Elizabeth Powell
“Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of awareness.” Alice Walker April is National Poetry Month, and for the past few weeks my 10 year old has arrived home with endless haikus, acrostics, and concrete poems. Part of this equation is that he is not a fully self-conscious human and is still nimble with his words. Poetry is deceivingly simple, and one of the hardest art forms to do well. Poetry is in fact a major art …
“Yellow” * Prose Poem * Y. C. Lin
i. My mother knocks it against the counter and splits it cleanly in half. Yellow yolk slides smoothly into porcelain. She whisks the mixture, tilting the bowl. This way more air goes in, she shows me, arm moving swiftly back and forth. Yellow spills into the clear. The fork clacks rhythmically against the bowl while the oil in the pan sizzles on the stove. There is the loud, incessant noise of the ventilation hood, the rising smoke, the hazy heat, …
“Hotdogs” and Other Poems by Anthony DeGregorio
Hotdogs I smell steamed hotdogs on Hospital Avenue in Danbury Where I’ve never in 10 years seen a truck or wagon Selling the classic Americanized delicacy Within miles of the Avenue’s Hospital where I’m headed On my way to Cardiac Rehab, And I suddenly wonder if this is how time ends? The End Times merely a thick pungency, with the Condensation of existence into a smothering of mustard, Sauerkraut, and onions, the source of the apocalyptic vapor Invisible apparently to …