kingsoftrain

Phoebe Wagner is a writer, editor, and PhD candidate living in the high desert. She can be found on Twitter @pheebs_w and at her website phoebe-wagner.com

~*~

note: The second sonnet below, “Shin Portrait of a Cat”, was previously published by Vine Leaves Literary Journal.

~*~

The Illustrated Woman

“They were windows looking in upon fiery reality.”
—Ray Bradbury

i. The Sleeve

The sun and thumbnail moon share the pale sky
with clouds thin as the epidermis. Black pines
spread down a mountainside cliff, the roots cooled
by vein-like rivers, rivulets pooling
above a meadow. Dots of wild flowers
freckle the tussocks while a young fox stirs
in the golden grass. The tree line shades bones
bleached scar-white, but the antler remains
rise like hands praising godly carnivores
who left the perfect sculpture, picked-over
by crows and beetles. And yet, beauty waits
in bareness, so skeletons illustrate
our mantels…

thru July 30th, Lulu is offering free mail shipping or 50% off ground shipping with coupon code of SHIPIT2018

most recent:

the boy who touched all the eggs
11.00
258 pages
published June 2017
-this is a combined publication of three previous works (surprise for me a crow / name calling / paw five) as well as some newer poems

http://www.lulu.com/shop/barton-smock/the-boy-who-touched-all-the-eggs/paperback/product-23224033.html

~

L A I T Y
8.00
116 pages
published August 2017

http://www.lulu.com/shop/barton-smock/l-a-i-t-y/paperback/product-23291654.html

~

everything I touch remembers being my hand
9.00
172 pages
published November 2017

http://www.lulu.com/shop/barton-smock/everything-i-touch-remembers-being-my-hand/paperback/product-23423003.html

~~~~~

note:

all book previews on site are the viewed book in its entirety. will send free PDFs per request. also, all titles will be sent free in hard copy to those interested in writing a review.

inquire, request, here: bartonsmock@yahoo.com or bartsmock@gmail.com

~~~~~

even more unnecessary:

in the doing of a thing there is often a lull and in…

Holly Lyn Walrath’s poetry and short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fireside Fiction, Luna Station Quarterly, Liminality, and elsewhere. Her chapbook of words and images, Glimmerglass Girl, will be published by Finishing Line Press in 2018. She holds a B.A. in English from The University of Texas and a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Denver. She is a freelance editor and host of The Weird Circular, an e-newsletter for writers containing submission calls and writing prompts. You can find her canoeing the bayou in Seabrook, Texas, on Twitter @HollyLynWalrath, or at http://www.hlwalrath.com.

~~~

When Darkness Leaves
After Mark Strand

But that early dawn she has nothing for herself
not even a removal of the hate, not even the wandering night.
She sleeps in damp, in rot, in swamp. She creatures night.
And aren’t we all unlike? And isn’t this because we leave ourselves?
When…

Linzi Garcia can be found in sunflower fields, cemeteries, and bars across the states. Her solo poetry book entitled Thank You was published by Spartan Press (March, 2018). If you’re lucky, you can even find a haiku of hers in the gumball machine at The Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas or perhaps hidden in a nook in a tree near you.

[ x ]

everything will burn

when i steal a taste of the words
that have yet to leave
his mouth or hands
he pushes the softest “ouch”
into my teeth
and translates every word
thereafter into how he makes love
to me
on the couch
he intends
to burn

[ x ]

Crystal Stone, TEDxIowaStateUniversity:

work in {isacoustic*}:
https://isacoustic.com/2018/03/16/person-crystal-stone-seven-poems/