Something Other Than Death by William Taylor Jr.

carry that weight by greg.turner

Something Other Than Death

We wake each day
to all the little things
that kill us

bit by bit

and we take it as best we can.

We have little choice,
really, other than
giving in.

I suppose the trick
is to convince ourselves

we are working towards
something other than death.

We have to believe it,
at least a bit,

in order to continue.

We have to believe
the moment will come

that will transcend
the doubt and emptiness
of an average day

and reveal the missing
pieces of existence,
finally fitting them together

in perfect fashion,

showing us, once
and for all, that our time
has not been wasted.

                - William Taylor Jr.

William Taylor Jr.'s first book of stories, An Age of Monsters is out by Epic Rites Press. You can connect with William on Facebook here.

Cold Water Morning by Gregory Luce

Razors edge 01 by settme3

Cold Water Morning

No hot water
on this cold morning
so I rinse my body
and hair lightly,
warm a pan of water
on the stove to shave,
scrape the razor down
my cheeks and gently
move it over my throat,
the tenderness I give
my skin that I deny
my heart.

                - Gregory Luce

Gregory Luce is the author of the chapbooks Signs of Small Grace (Pudding House) and Drinking Weather (Finishing Line); he has published poems in numerous print and online journals and lives in Washington, DC, where he works as Production Specialist for National Geographic. Twitter: @dctexpoet

Learning by Heart by Amanda Oaks

softening by Amanda Oaks

learning by heart

some silences
are drawn out
like icicles

red skin, a heart
magnified
under the weight
after a whiteout
of words
leaves us

paralyzed

blossoms retract
back into
themselves

waiting for the
sun—

love,

to relight
the dark sky,

to soften
the slippery
shell, we knock
& knock
& knock on

until we remember
that the only way
to get
to our center

is to flesh out
our whys

                - Amanda Oaks

Inspired by Alchemy Daily

Hi, I'm Amanda Oaks curator of connection & provisioner of benevolent beauty here, at Words Dance & over at Kind Over Matter. Mama. Lover. Poet. Multi-Passionate Solopreneur. Kindness Advocate. I love laughing more than most anything.

This is a Beautiful Line by Aleathia Drehmer

The_Morning_After by J.C. Rojas

This is a beautiful line

"we all need to feel
like a bird on fire"

he whispered into
the crook of her knee
inhaling the perfumed
skin she was reborn
with—smoky and full
of flamed earth.

he traced the universe
on the back of her leg,
watched her ribs float
and stutter when a super
nova started to form,
spreading out like the fire
that brought her to him.

she felt the ashes
of her other life
painting her face, his face
their hands muddied
with ink and detritus;
their connection deeper
than the galaxy they
created on the tail
ends of breathing.

                - Aleathia Drehmer

Aleathia Drehmer hovers like a mother hen over her pet project Durable Goods and edits poetry at Full of Crow, and is currently more in love with life than she has ever been.

you origami me by Robert Lee Brewer

Paper Cranes [30/07/09] by KayVee.INC

you origami me

fold me into animal shapes and hold
me like paper you don't want to tear. i've
been here before. i've waited like money
and spent myself evenly across your
accounts of love. the time has come for our
withdrawal into the pleasures of night,
these simple transfers and deposits, these
points of interest. fold me as you will
and hold me longer still. i'm not a beast,
save when that's the only way you'll spend me.

                - Robert Lee Brewer

Robert Lee Brewer is the editor of Poet's Market and can be found at My Name Is Not Bob.

Crushed Lily by Rebecca Schumejda

folded-lily by JeremyOK

Crushed Lily

The crushed lily, cradled in my daughter’s hands,
proves there’s beauty in the folds of our faults.

She spreads back petals and examines the inside;
Focus, flip then fold as if a paper fortune teller

or as pre-teen girls call them coochie catchers.
Ask me a question, I tell her, pick a number, lift the flap.

                - Rebecca Schumejda

Rebecca Schumejda is the author of Falling Forward, a full-length collection of poems (sunnyoutside, 2009); The Map of Our Garden (verve bath, 2009); Dream Big Work Harder (sunnyoutside press 2006); The Tear Duct of the Storm (Green Bean Press, 2001); and the poem "Logic" on a postcard (sunnyoutside). She received her MA in Poetics and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and her BA in English and Creative Writing from SUNY New Paltz. She resides in New York’s Hudson Valley and online at rebeccaschumejda.com. Her book, Cadillac Men, is forthcoming from NYQ Books.

The Many Reams of Perfect by Jason Neese

Road to the stars by Viola & Cats ♥ =^..^= ♥_ SAND TVTB ! TI ADORO

The Many Reams of Perfect

the night pours over us like starshine
that ankle wrapped dance

a mood

like a crude
revival, our hearts stitched together
a giant balloon

with a hot wet naked
to the air and a stringed flower
in the lush

little toes across the creek

and the flutes ring
and the silver
wears a feast
clinking to smile
the ridges lined
and you in white the red curling
and me in black the curl ready

our little ship floating in the bay
the lapping waves bouncing
us the starry night rinsing
us
off

                - Jason Neese

jason feels like they should play the national anthem directly following every episode of jersey shore before cutting to white snow. he lives in los angeles and works in tv. he has written four unpublished novels. snooki has written one. published.