IN RESPONSE TO THE FRAUDULENT DRUGS
by Amy Jannotti
in the dust-streaked glint of the cellophane window, i lay half
forgiven — corrupting
happiness at eye level,
lounging semi drowned.
i am so full of
sumptuous varicolored cavities,
evocative in loneliness, shooting light.
i prefer my women headless & keep tugging
at the ribbon round my neck.
i am unwound
& prostrate
in the frigid
air sleepspeaking
dreams of grey places: a little bird
flapping til her wings
dissolve.
i catch the Moon in a glass
of water & she’s bitter as a pill
all the way down.
i drag my bare feet across
the floor til it’s no longer
strange & i’m no
longer bashful —
i kiss myself in the cold,
fake mirror.
the streets flood & i am
a dirty gondola,
made
for stepping: i am pillowed
in silk, rubbing lilac
in my scars.
i am so drunk
on deathless placebo
even the streetlamps
flash
like stars.
Islandbridge
by DS Maolalai
the sun’s hung like bait
above fish or a beautiful cock.
I’m in traffic near islandbridge,
behind heuston station,
top down on my cheese-rind-
red mini convertible
(’08 second-hand, a survivor
of robberies, bumper-bumps
one drunk drive, three nct
road tests). my face
is developing an uneven sun-
tan, the pattern of light between
leaves – like the movement
of thick schools of fishes
as they thrash at a sewer
outflow, biting the on-
rushing fluid.
Between The Lines
by Joe Wright
Who,
swinging his axe
to fell kings, guesses
where we go?
-Basil Bunting
Caravan park. Time sticking like gristle
in teeth. Journeys end in plots marked by rock-
choked fossils while inside vast distance
distends in still, tired heads. No one here
moves on anymore. Down the road
disinfectant, korma and heather smoke
swap riddles in the porch of Canny Beds
(massive savings!) whose wares save none from cold,
comfort only old air. Vardos never
arrive at where the horizon cheats eyes.
And enduring out of sight between the lines
of traffic, what wild queen pushing her pram past
the nightclub and Jay’s Rays Sun Salon, heard
the last stag in Ladley Wood call to her
over the beck and the border of dreams—
Come back to me, love. I’ve secrets to tell.
Amy Jannotti (she/her) is a pile of dust in a trenchcoat living & writing in Philadelphia. She is the author of 3 chapbooks (most recently, ANGELS & INSECTS ARE CREATURE WITH WINGS from Kith Books). Her poems can be found in Olney Magazine, Black Stone / White Stone, Non.Plus Lit, & elsewhere. She tweets @cursetheground
DS Maolalai has been described by one editor as “a cosmopolitan poet” and another as “prolific, bordering on incontinent”. His work has nominated eleven times for Best of the Net, eight for the Pushcart Prize and once for the Forward Prize, and has been released in three collections; “Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden” (Encircle Press, 2016), “Sad Havoc Among the Birds” (Turas Press, 2019) and “Noble Rot” (Turas Press, 2022)
Joe Wright is a young poet from County Durham. His work has won the Wells Festival of Literature Young Poets competition and been shortlisted for the Foyle Young Poets of the Year 2022 and the Young Northern Writers’ Awards 2022. He is mentored by the poet Jo Clement, and is interested in the land and sound of post-industrial Northumbria.