We perched together, dug in roots that reached but did not intertwine for so long to each other
That the first hint felt like failing, felt like too many trials rushing in,
But they were groundwater quenching parch thirst, clearing the throat for what came:
Brilliant laps of sunshine that didn’t waste themselves turning our leave a brilliant flash shade
Of green-blue crashing off the sky we looked to and dreamed of how to float if only there
Weren’t these tangles that kept us tethered to ground.
But, then, sometimes,
We felt it was good to be just where we were with nothing else
But the memory that we were once so solitary so unringed by oaken time.
And now had a perfect spot to shade each other.
About the Author
Carter Vance is a writer and poet originally from Cobourg, Ontario, Canada currently resident in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. His work has appeared in such publications as The Smart Set, Contemporary Verse 2 and A Midwestern Review, amongst others. He was previously a Harrison Middleton University Ideas Fellow. His latest collection of poems, Places to Be, is currently available from Moonstone Arts Press.
Watch out for it, her father says & she repeats as though it’s a boobytrap placed there by some mayhem artist on a state route along the Elk River. Nearly swallowed my tire, he says. Caused my rearview mirror to fall off. The road is a weapon that cuts itself open. I thank her & her dad for the advice. I’m learning to dodge abysses, weave around emptiness.
About the Author
Ace Boggess is author of six books of poetry, including Escape Envy (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2021), I Have Lost the Art of Dreaming It So, and The Prisoners. His writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Notre Dame Review, Harvard Review, Mid-American Review, and other journals. An ex-con, he lives in Charleston, West Virginia, where he writes and tries to stay out of trouble.
The unhinged deck floating, it’s head Barely above water Already rotten The tapestry of my swinging emotions washed onto marshy shore Waterlogged I can’t even salvage your love Your tears twist into a figure eight Snip snip Unknot me Unfettered, liberated as Your face skates gently towards me, power, purpose of a hungry sea lion A moat grows around my heart.
Please sift through this mess and find Heavy oars Row to me
About the Author
Janelle Finamore is a musician, poet, and teacher located in Orange County, CA. Most recently, her work appeared in Sad Girls Lit, the international Poet Magazine, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Ariel Chart, Spillwords, and others.