“My Father Met Jayne Mansfield” by Joseph Hirsch

He must have sensed her blonde came from a bottle…. and that his parents were liars, too. He met her as a child which somehow seems a waste, a thwarted prepubescent prank played by a horndog demigod. His head only came up to the curve of her oft-measured breasts, and when he peeked, he was […]

“Training” by Charles Rammelkamp

She gave into temptation…. It was difficult for me to breath. The guy I bought my dope from when I was in grad school in Boston lived on the fourth floor of the brownstone where my Notes-from-Underground basement studio was. Ralph owned a Doberman Pinscher named Mahogany, a sleek, athletic-looking animal, always at Ralph’s heel, […]

“Winter’s Perdition” by Mark Krajnak

I got a rocks glass of rye, and some cold hash to finish, as snow starts to fly.No carols being sung around these parts. Will find it hard to sleep tonight. Winter’s perdition is here. Tough to sleep when you don’t know who’s going to come through the door with a gat in hand. Just […]

“The Girlfriend Problem” by Matthew Sorrento

And I would kill for him, still would, ever since we met. Do it or I’ll kill you, he told me. Times like this he’d turn on me, hit me. Didn’t matter what we’re doing, getting smokes, or dope, or him smashing me in bed. With him, it’s always there. You’re going in with me,he said, […]

“The Dump Truck of Self” by Mitchell Grabois

“My body is a situation, a dilemma. I haul it from place to place in this wheelchair. I am a dump truck of self.” 1. Back in the day, I heard that Mama Cass had died choking on a ham-and-cheese sandwich. In reality, eighty pounds lighter than she’d ever been, after two weeks of standing […]

“At the Junctions of Epiphany” by Les Wicks

The train of thought, my tickets of insight a quiet of the sleepers the tranquillity of this nothing. Then the carriage breaks out I sit inside a chaos, we commuters right alongside a somewhat crazy Absolute Disaster who is interested his own opinion. I experience true peace Not apart, nor together. Signals are red but […]

“Noir” by Charles Rammelkamp

“Feem nwah,” Larry muttered, as if uttering sacred words, his tone hushed, as though in a church – or in a movie theater. A lonely middle-aged guy who spent his evenings alone in the repertory cinemas in Coolidge Corner or Harvard Square, Larry fashioned a purpose from his hobby, a cult for one, conjuring metaphysics […]

“Angel of NoirCon” by Ken Bruen

________________“Angel _______________________Of __________________________Noir _______________________________Con” ________________Life throws up a variety of people who create a stir in your life Some you have met in different guises, but they are basically the same model But now and again and very very rarely, you are given a person who lights you up In every sense Deen Kogan was […]

“Echoes of a Breath,” “First Day,” and “Ping Like a Dream” by Fabrice Poussin

“Echoes of a Breath” She did little, standing upon the snowy peak remembering the fires of times long gone but exhaled a kind breath of infinite grace. The earth too seemed to be alive with fire restful at last yet filled with great secrets and there, poised as a classic deity she remained. Arms […]

“Awoke by D-Ray’s B-Day Muddle” by Chas Hansen

“Awoke by D-Ray’s B-Day Muddle” for Dennis McMillan When the obits fall silent, dreams take up the slack I was lecturing labyrinthine digs in strait-laced Kansas. Rather, some whelp was ignoring me until Gary C and D -Ray Showed with drawls so rich we soon flowed like tepid syrup Towards a Brutalist lecture hall while […]