Bread of Life The baker crawled inside his oven to test his faith. Or so he told me It was deadly dark and hot with that heavy door shut tight behind him. Too dark and hot for his idea of Jesus, he said. He was afraid. I took his word for it. After his…
Poetry
Call for Submissions— Shame: An Anthology
Shaming is both a cultural practice and a form of abuse.
Embed from Getty Images — Shaming is used by parents, teachers, government, police, social media, healthcare professionals, and countless other entities to punish and to ensure compliance with dominant values. Women, immigrants, people of color, LGBTQIA folks, and people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to shaming and its long-term effects, not least of which are anxiety…
Old, dirty _______
In Rajendra Shepherd's poem, an outsider watches "blue eyes" as "They traipse, followed by prams, /Full of dreams /wonder[ing] if they know, /The bickering of ram-packed neighbours, /Rum so hot it can fire-up any temper."
In Rajendra Shepherd’s poem, an outsider watches “blue eyes” as “They traipse, followed by prams, /Full of dreams /wonder[ing] if they know, /The bickering of ram-packed neighbours, /Rum so hot it can fire-up any temper.”
Better Days Behind
Connolly Ryan captures the wistfulness of fatherhood: a man and his daughter "feeding the geese pretend-bread /and laughing at their easeful /acceptance of this fiction."
Connolly Ryan captures the wistfulness of fatherhood: a man and his daughter “feeding the geese pretend-bread /and laughing at their easeful /acceptance of this fiction.”
5 Days Before His 14-Gun Salute at Arlington National Cemetery
“I never knew who he killed all those years, but I knew who he tried to save…”
Interview with Grant Clauser, GMP Poet and Cider Press Review Contest Winner
Grant Clauser, winner of the 2016 Cider Press Review Editors' Prize, and one of our 2016 Pushcart nominees, sat down with us (digitally) to discuss his new book and what it means to him to be a good poet and a good man.
Grant Clauser, winner of the 2016 Cider Press Review Editors’ Prize, and one of our 2016 Pushcart nominees, sat down with us (digitally) to discuss his new book and what it means to him to be a good poet and a good man.
Rumpelstiltskin
A father's "red-faced and screaming" attempt at love reminds his daughter of a familiar fairy tale.
A father’s “red-faced and screaming” attempt at love reminds his daughter of a familiar fairy tale.
Anniversary
Steven Sanchez recalls tenderness with a Deaf lover--"In American Sign Language /I am a single star /above his head, looking /down at the years /that pass inside his fists."
Steven Sanchez recalls tenderness with a Deaf lover–“In American Sign Language /I am a single star /above his head, looking /down at the years /that pass inside his fists.”
The Weitsz Photograph, November 2006
In the midst of American/Russian tension, Scott Hightower recalls the poisoning of a former FSB agent who publicly accused Putin of atrocities.
In the midst of American/Russian tension, Scott Hightower recalls the poisoning of a former FSB agent who publicly accused Putin of atrocities.
a man to his wife on the beach, June 2010
"The dark is bigger than we think, /a slow crawl of sticky hair in the drain." But we'll get used to it.
“The dark is bigger than we think, /a slow crawl of sticky hair in the drain.” But we’ll get used to it.
Leavenworth
A prison visit prompts unease, two men "Groping /for pleasantries. Discovering none."
A prison visit prompts unease, two men “Groping /for pleasantries. Discovering none.”
The Mountain Chickadee
Spring is here, and with it comes desire-- "As when a boy, immersed /in the atmosphere of his parents' vacation, /drives 20 miles to meet a girl /and there, in the garden shed..."
Spring is here, and with it comes desire– “As when a boy, immersed /in the atmosphere of his parents’ vacation, /drives 20 miles to meet a girl /and there, in the garden shed…”
Hoosier Truck Poem
Brian Beatty's surreal poem taps into something unconscious and unexpected.
Brian Beatty’s surreal poem taps into something unconscious and unexpected.
Imagine My Body
Walter Holland's look back to gay '70s NYC--and the AIDS epidemic that followed--is not just "a moment /of intimacy or humiliation or /uncontained desire"--it's all of those things.
Walter Holland’s look back to gay ’70s NYC–and the AIDS epidemic that followed–is not just “a moment /of intimacy or humiliation or /uncontained desire”–it’s all of those things.
Behind Every Marriage
"Even a love that fails /has done its job, /has instilled in its hosts /a definition of loneliness /worth sharing and worth /dying towards."
“Even a love that fails /has done its job, /has instilled in its hosts /a definition of loneliness /worth sharing and worth /dying towards.”
After Seeing The Crucible
A threesome with a stranger brings a couple closer together.
A threesome with a stranger brings a couple closer together.