Category: Poetry

Deboning

Alex Bortell I shed fistfuls. Natural poacher, confused when I’m born finless. You hold two catfish by the gills. Spear me in the Muskegon. The Cougar’s ashtray lined with buds. I sift through...

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Shell Game

Apollo Chastain “You can win a pistol!!!” I remove the white chiclet gum,       which I have been chewing so long it’s lost flavor,   from under my tongue. I hand...

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Missouri Pastoral 01

Brooke Spalding I’m angry when neighbors roll slow and talk                         about god through the salt-caked  mini-van...

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A text that read “I love you” and a follow up

grace (ge) gilbert A text that read “I love you” and a follow up to qualify what that meant. That there is something familiar, like we’ve seen each other in a past life. The guilt of the dream...

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The Worst Portland in America

Jordan Hamel Fraternal twin rivers womb the memorial plaza. A town in utero, pet food cannery,  chapel of ease, hockey rink,  camping store. We carried  folding chairs to the oxbow  behind the...

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Bartending Because Hot People Bartend

Kate Garcia and I want to be hot. I want to be hot in a girl way and a boy way. A bot way. A seventeen-year-old way and like my mom. So hot that the wheels fall off—I’m out of control! So hot I...

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Ozark Geography

Megan Blankenship This is the kind of place I grew up: as a child I thought it was a law that names of towns contain “rock”  or “mountain.” I knew four towns, and Little Rock was culture. ...

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Touchstruck

Mollie O’Leary I’d spent the morning staring down  into a caldera, ropes of steam  moving past me to pursue their own  relentless cycles. I could see the city below, ...

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Bestiary

Seth Peterson 2025 Poetry Spring Contest Winner Through a shattering of light, a mermaid knuckles out to say goodbye. Flaps her eel-black fin. A wishing tree dangles its microphone limbs, listening....

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Haibun

Tim Thiện Nguyễn Sông có khúc, người có lúc           –a Vietnamese proverb It was not their fault / the aunties and uncles / Ba Mẹcoming here when / (insert your favorite...

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