ISSUE TWO

Junk

It was spring and the hills were irradient, like they had to get out all their green in one short burst before catching fire.

beach

On Undressing a Color / On Undressing a Girl

I imagine that undressing a color, though, would be so much like peeling a memory away from the grey and the white matter of your brain.

3:17 AM as Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks

Part of being a good sad person
is always painting the shadows
in the right direction and knowing
what sorrow to art with.

artwork with Venus

Light Pencils

The weeks go like this: accepting, horny, hopeful, sad. I’m four different people trying to establish one perspective on a major life event – on the creation of life itself.

Chronic Pain Is An Invisible Disease

This series is a response to a health diagnosis, trigeminal neuralgia and thoracic outlet syndrome, from a major mid-Atlantic hospital after a several year journey through chronic pain.

Ode To the Dove Pt. VI (Avrom Sutzkever)

Yes I am guilty, I’m guilty. A sin was desirable then.
Bring the dancer back to the stalks.

A Eulogy For the Boy I Don’t Love

The most entertaining thing about Miguel is that when he was 13 he dislocated his shoulder playing basketball and can now pop it in and out of place. There is nothing particularly interesting about Miguel.

rotarty phone

My Wife’s Phone

Sex is not a thank you card in this house.

[Zoetrope with Particulates in it and a Newborn]

and then her eyes fully opened — blazed through with strands of mud

woman at bar

After She Told Me You Pushed Her Down the Stairs

Empty vessels
make the most sound, I think,
as you rip the fairy lights off the handrail.

cupcakes

Pleasure That Cannot Be Felt as Such

I loved Rena as much as a patient could love their gynecologist. We had tea together in her office. I cried when she asked how I was doing, and she showed me pictures of her terriers.

homecoming king and queen

Point Pleasant

Hitting up homes peopled by those with nothing much to lose was an easy score. The less you had, the less likely you were to defend it. But this home was different. Its residents had a lot to lose and the will to fight for it.

Hollywood Hills

the remarkable thing

I am still waiting for the lion

from A Hundred Stories

Taking photographs of my hometown has given me a chance to reflect on people whom I have not valued.

photo of windshield

Mother and Her Remains

Mama sped along the highway, unbothered by bits of gravel that flew up from the front tires and struck the windshield of the sedan.

graffiti on cement

Slabs

We drifted junk with a sledgehammer looking for juice. Sometimes the rage.

view of earth from space

The Scattering

Allanson looked out of the viewport, at the ragtag flotilla of ships trailing behind, some of them slow to catch up. It was to be expected with the little time that they’d had to cobble the fleet together.

Patriarchy U.

what ur female protagonist needs is for some guy to beat the shit out of her…

Greetings From Baja California!

Sitting at the bar on Pacific Avenue. With the seashells in the walls. Same bartender from last year, still here, making the same lethal Mai Tais.

On the Night Row-Houses Across the Street Catch Fire

You let the yellow glow
from eye sockets. The building up the street
is burning faster and faster.

forest fire

When The Ten Thousand Ton Trilobite Attacked

We said, Heck, that’s really something.

heavy rain

The Plot

Long after midnight, we’re talking about our first time

Oppressive and Certain Decay

I pushed my nose to within an inch from the rug. I sniffed, and sniffed, and I smelled something…not quite right, but I couldn’t place it.

Welcome To The House of Static

here is the sky in stop motion, flickering,
a still shot in monochrome

melting ice cap

blue is the color of surrender

you know that
baby swallows make silver ripples
in wild rivers to court reeds?

Electric Eels, Finishing School, Teeth

Millions of Americans have been affected by identity theft. It’s probably the greenhouse gases.

salt lake

Climb The Highest Mountain

When I was on earth I was a pretty good kid. I only got drunk when I needed to get drunk.

There is an alternative universe

Ghosts for hire, whispers in her mouth,
cysts to feel, the symmetry of a gift.

Dis Place Ment

People have always coped with flooding, and they learned to cope with death.

dead roses

The Cycle

It all started with the curse of my tits. Women’s bodies are cursed. Everyone tries to look at them, everyone tries to ignore them.

painting of apple and grapes

Feast Of

anger, like you can sink teeth into, candy apple

sun in clouds

The Rapture

I don’t know why I was still talking about the rapture. I certainly didn’t believe in it. Regardless, it remained a thief…

Hide & Woman Begs With Child

Adrienne Christian is a poet, writer, and fine art photographer.

When Robin Hood Was Caught Dead To Rights

and on and on and on and on they ran, the Merry Men, running from a hundred and one arrows bought with taxes stolen twice over…

close up of sun

Mercury in Retrograde

You said it was okay to blame
what goes wrong on the planet