Today, Lise Quintana and Andrea Blyth explore “Dear Firebird,” by Becky d’Ugo, submitted for the Dearly Beloved anthology. Dear Firebird, Ashes to ashes, Funk to funky, We know Major Tom’s a junky Do you remember a guy who once bought you a drink and told you, “That’s for smiling at me”? You were glowing, sparkling, … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Joey Gould explore “To Break Our Backs With It,” by Brendan Walsh, submitted to The Golden Walkman. Look—the ground bows to us. Dirt mends itself around the world we’ve planted inside Earth we grew from. But ground gives toil, gifts only once broken—a draft mule pushed toward numb-insanity, feeding hands it hates. … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Kolleen Carney explore “Longings of a Vanished Cat,” by Jon Steinhagen, submitted for Issue #10, Alice in Wonderland. She calls me Cheshire-Puss. I like that. What has she done with the baby? There she stands on the mossy path, unencumbered by bawling babe, crisp and clean and blue and white. I … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Kolleen Carney explore “Namesake,” by Abigail Ashing, submitted for NonBinary Review‘s Issue #10, Alice in Wonderland. Alice had lost something, or gained it, she hadn’t decided. There were stretch marks now over old scars. A firm, taut body grown soft. Ephemeral changes, all. All but one. Her cawing heart, crow-black and … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Frankie Metro explore “Boxing Day” by Austin Price, submitted to Kleft Jaw. I’ve spent every night these last three months writing stories about people trapped in boxes. And I mean in real boxes. I don’t write stories about white-collar jerks so caught up in the rat race that their $20,000-a-month luxury apartments … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Kolleen Carney explore “David Bowie: Sound and Vision,” by Julie Greenberg, submitted for the Dearly Beloved anthology. I saw him walk in as I was eating Cheetos and processing a credit card order for a customer.   My throat started to close, electric zaps shot up to my head causing an intense … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Matt Guerruckey explore “The Vanity” by Derrick Lafayette, submitted to Drunk Monkeys. From the view At the tip of a feather Fallen from your left wing I descended to earth The four line poem ran circles through my mind, as I kept looking to the floor. Looking into the Ivory shag … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Selena Chambers explore “The Poet as Fool” by Sally Zakariyas, submitted for Issue #12, Edgar Allan Poe. For Zak, with lines from “The Purloined Letter”  Not altogether a fool, said pseudonymous G. in the Poe story, but then he is a poet, which I take to be only one remove             … Read More