Nights With Teeth
she held her breath
motionless
doll
his-body
her-body
motionless
you
wanted
it
motionless
she held her breath
***
Stay
The lilies in the greenhouse shiver,
done
guitar
heroin
wallet
done
pen
soil
shotgun
done
the lilies in the greenhouse shiver.
Elizabeth Mercurio
3/21/2018
The Skinny Poetry Journal (TSPJ) seeks new poetry that documents all that is inescapably troubling and irrepressibly beautiful about the times in which we live. We are especially interested in receiving poems that launch a literary counterpunch against injustice (wherever that injustice exists in the world). TSPJ is a literary journal that is dedicated to The Skinny poetry form. A Skinny is a short poem form, created by Truth Thomas, that consists of eleven lines. The first and eleventh lines can be any length (although shorter lines are favored). The eleventh and last line must be repeated using the same words from the first and opening line (however, those words can be rearranged).The second, sixth, and tenth lines must be identical.
The point of the Skinny, or Skinnys, is to convey a vivid image with as few words as possible. Skinny poems can be about any subject. They can also be linked, like Haiku, Senryu or Tanka. To submit your Skinnys for publishing consideration, email: theskinnypoetryjournal@gmail.com with your poem, or poems, copied into the body of your email.
Armed
Someone inspired, teacher, she shoots ahead of classes
emerges
graduate
armed
mentor
emerges
hallway
alarms
student
emerges
teacher of inspired classes, she shoots Someone ahead
Louise White
3/8/2018
What Has Occurred
violation
hands —
her words can describe the depth and breadth of No
Angela H. Dale
2/5/2018
Written in response to Larry Nassar’s statement, “There are no words that can describe the depth and breadth of how sorry I am for what has occurred,” and the testimony of 156 women at his trial.
Another Black History Month
Revolution [19th Century]
“any free person, who shall hereafter teach, or attempt to teach, any slave within the State to read or write… shall be liable to indictment”
Act Passed by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina
at the Session of 1830—1831
To learn, we break the law.
Read
fast.
Pick
slowly.
Read,
then
hide
what’s
read.
We learn to break the law.
Jackie Robinson
Winter came, and slept on benches and streets
Covered
People
Lakes
Sidewalks
Covered
Dead
Trees
Cemeteries
Covered
Benches and streets slept, and winter came on.
Erin Geil
1/17/2018
People ask what I did in the war
never
talk
about
death
never
talk
about
hero’s
never
ask what I did in the war people.
PTSD 8 years later
the war is my safe place now
my
nightmares
flashbacks
paranoia
my
constant
consistent
companion
now the war is my safe place.
Matthew Borczon
11/9/2017
Growing Up
A child giggles with glee.
Bubbles
float
chasing
chasing
bubbles
caught
Pop!
Gone.
Bubbles,
giggle, a child with glee.
Kenneth Arthur
11/8/2017
Bleeding Kashmir
A bleeding paradise on earth is Kashmir
Indisputably,
We
Are
Tortured
Indisputably,
People
Are
Killed
Indisputably,
A bleeding paradise on earth is Kashmir.
Mohd Nageen Rather
11/8/2017
(Photo by Jerry Hoyt)
Again
America take
privileged
nap
while
feeling
privileged
and
safe
while
privileged
take America
America bake
better
smoke
weave
wisps
better
clouds
to
hide
better
bake America
America wake
now
the
American
dream
now
not
a
dream
now
wake America
America quake
bird
words
go
boom
bird
angry
call
mushroom
bird
quake America
Chad Parenteau
11/8/2017
:of wings’ precision.
Melissa Gordon
10/5/2017
Let’s Talk About the Revolution
It falls apart before it tears anything down.
Announcing:
“Alliance
Becomes
Betrayal.”
Announcing:
“Rebellion
Requires
Antecedent.”
Announcing:
“Anything falls down before it tears you apart.”
J. Howard Hobson
9/4/2017
Elephant Skinny
The fence flatteners, the tender nomads
walk
across
treadmill
earth
walk
bishops
down
aisles
walk
the tender nomads, the fence flatteners
Lucy Johnson
7/13/2017
Lucy Johnson is a senior at Holland Hall School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has received three Gold Keys from the Scholastic Writing Awards, and has attended The Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain for three summers. Most recently, she attended the University of Virginia Young Writers Workshop for poetry. She enjoys painting, music, traveling, and spending time with her dogs.
***
The Poetry of Indira Khera
the elephant rests on the castle courtyard
climbing
jungle
baby
serving
climbing
wearing
cotton
saddle
climbing
the castle courtyard rests on the elephant
***
the Afghan village waited on the edge of the world
bloody
war
wandering
predestined
bloody
cause
carried
home
bloody
the world waited on the edge of the Afghan village
Indira Khera
7/13/201
Indira Khera is a high school senior at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut. She is involved with both theater and performing arts at Miss Porter’s, and has won 1st place in the Edith Wharton Writing Competition, as well as receiving an Honorable Mention in the Northeast Region Scholastic Awards. Additionally, she is currently attending the Young Writer’s Workshop through the University of Virginia.
***
The Poetry of Annie Li
purple moons imprinted under your eyes are wilting
your
pearls
of
ivory
your
expired
silver
flesh
your
eyes are wilting, your purple moons imprinted under
Annie Li
7/13/2017
Annie Li is a rising senior at Montgomery High School in Skillman, New Jersey and a poetry student at the UVA Young Writers Workshop. She enjoys eating greek yogurt, writing poetry, and petting dogs.
***
The Side
he sits on the side
Tusks
alabaster
aching
art
Tusks
breaking
bleached
brown
Tusks
the side he sits on
Joyce Zhang
7/13/2017
Joyce Zhang is a high school student who resides in Northern California. She was on the Claremont Review’s shortlist and is a poetry student at UVA Young Writer’s Workshop. On a regular day, she can be found lounging around her house with a cup of peach tea.
***
Note: This Skinny series is the literary fruit of Derrick Weston Brown’s poetry workshop, crafted at the Young Writers Workshop in the summer of 2017. The Young Writers Workshop is a six week residential Summer Creative Writing intensive at Sweet Briar College in Southwest Virginia.
Derrick Weston Brown, Young Writers Workshop
How It Happens
I watched my body fall in love
surging
oxytocin,
pupils
dilating,
surging
dopamine,
palms
sweating,
surging
In love. I watched my body fall.
Divya Manikandan
7/24/17
blinded
night flowered and jasper
eyes
drew
lipped
fresco
eyes
bled
hipped
moon
eyes
flowered jasper and night
Andrew Plevak
7/16/17
In London
a baby fell nine
stories
landed
like
pillows
stories
stack
like
newspaper
stories
fell nine, a baby
Heather Dorn
6/15/2017
The Skinny on Italian Lovers
In the night, Italian lovers
Affettuoso
Adagietto
Andantino
Allegretto
Affettuoso
Allegro
Allegrissimo
Accelerando
Affettuoso
Italian lovers in the night
Thomas Locicero
5/27/2017
Support this writer, support this book:
“The easy option would be… poetry from beyond the front line, words from the warzone, the art of the aftermath, a warriors words lock & load…all would be true but too easy, and they would sell this collection short; here’s the harder truth, these are honest poems that the Great War poets Wilfred Owen and Robert Brooke would recognise as truth.” – Neil S. Reddy, Miffed and Peeved in the U.K.
Matthew Borczon is a writer and Navy sailor from Erie Pa, his book A Clock of human Bones won the Yellowchair reviews chap book contest in 2015. His work has appeared in many online and print journals including: Red efts, dissident voice, dead snakes, big hammer, anti heroin chic, drunk in a midnight choir, the beatnik cowboy and others. He is married with 4 children and 3 jobs. Life keeps him very busy.
To order Ghost Train, by Matt Borczon, go to:
https://www.weaselpress.com/product-page/ghost-train
This long after the war
ghosts
still
haunt
me
ghosts
wounded
screaming
amputated
ghosts
this long after the war.
Matt Borczon
4/26/2017
Before I knew,
I didn’t know
knowing
would
show
me
knowing
comes
after
not
knowing
I didn’t know.
Catherine Zickgraf
4/18/2017
Not Yet 100 Days
Part One:
Mourning’s not the same this time.
Splintered.
Caffeined
Apoplectic
Asking
Splintered
How…
…this?
….happened?
Splintered.
Time’s not the same, this mourning.
Part Two:
Search forward the next petition, the next march, the next fight—
Hope.
You,
There
reaching
Hope!
Lined-
Soldiers
Armed.
Hope!!;
Petition the search; next, next, next the fight–the March forward!
Susan Jackson
4/16/2017
Thelonious Monk
She danced the chord Monk played for
free.
Sweet
dissonance.
Fearless,
free-
flowing
music
breathes
free.
She played the chord Monk danced for.
Bill Evans
“We will meet again,”
Bill
plays.
She
prays.
Bill
dreams.
I
believe,
Bill,
we will meet again.
Art Tatum
We invited genius for tea
this
Sunday
morning.
Across
this
piano,
hands
fly.
This
genius we invited for tea.
Le Hinton
4/5/2017
The Myth of Skinny Donald Trump
lies Donald Trump spreads like butter.
Trump dines on lies.
Lies
breakfast,
lunch,
dinner,
lies
every
tasteless
snack.
Lies,
Trump dines on lies.
This is the skinny on Donald Trump.
Lies
make
Trump
skinny.
Lies,
meaningless
skin/
bones.
Lies.
The skinny on this is Donald Trump.
Sharon Mishler Fox
3/29/2017
Because He Said
And they marched onto the capitol
anger
changing
facts
into
anger
demonstrating
knots
of
anger
and they marched onto the capitol
Michael H. Brownstein
3/21/2017
Trumpery
“something without use or value; nonsense”
The Random House College Dictionary, Unabridged, 1982
That his lips are moving means
nothing
can
come
from
nothing.
Empty
verbiage
means
nothing,
means that his lips are moving.
Susan McLean
3/5/2017
PTSD #1
In screaming nightmares
Afghanistan
haunts
me
continuously
Afghanistan
swallows
me
nightly
Afghanistan
in nightmares screaming.
Matt Borczon
3/1/2017
So Corruptly Reminiscent
A return of the Old Guard.
Goldman
Sachs
echoes
rampant
Goldman
corridors
throughout
White
Golden.
Of the Old Guard, a return.
Heath Brougher
2/23/2017
Trump
“a suit that for the time outranks the other suits”
The Random House College Dictionary, Unabridged, 1982
What he pulls is
rank,
as
in
odorous,
rank
as
in
offensive.
Rank
is what he pulls.
Susan McLean
2/22/2017
Urban Pandemonium
Morning stampede in the city
Rushing
Aggressive
Blaring
Horns
Rushing
Corralled
Pedestrian
Herds
Rushing
City stampedes in the morning
Suzanne Cottrell
2/18/2017
Seeds
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free. – “Come Together,” The Beatles – Based on signs from the Women’s March, Jan 21, 2017, San Diego
When they tried to bury us, they didn’t realize we were seeds.
This
is
what
democracy
this
looks
like
democracy
this:
They didn’t realize we were seeds, when they tried to bury us.
*
In numbers too big to ignore,
hear
me
roar:
I,
hear
me,
am
woman,
here:
In numbers too big to ignore.
*
Si, se puede!
We
stand
for
equality.
We
the
people,
power,
we.
Yes, we can!
*
People still ask
what
was
the
victim
what
was
she
wearing
what…
people still ask.
*
Black lives
matter
seed
ash
magic
matter
bees
sand
polin
matter
Black lives
*
Revolution is love not
Trump’s
hate.
Love
is;
trumps
hate.
Our
love.
Trump’s
revolution is not love.
Janel Spencer-Levy
2/18/2017
2017
starts as a shit storm
warning
muted
orange
warning
voted
fear-monger
rage
warning
as a shit storm starts
Our Fathers,
even children can see
past
new
emperor’s
clothes
past
repeated
sins
pointed
past
even children can see
How the mighty fall
watch the dismemberment of democracy
stand
by
curious
apathy
stand
up
citizens
don’t
watch the dismemberment of democracy
Lie down
a lie repeated becomes
truth
through
elastic
lips
truth
like
concrete
corrupted
truth
becomes a lie repeated
Barbara Turney Wieland
2/9/2017
Walking by the School Yard
~in response to Betsy DeVos’s Senate confirmation
Neglect is a sin of omission
Deny
rag-
bound
books
Deny
children’s
dreams
abandoned
Deny
Omission is a sin of neglect.
Ann Bracken
2/8/2017
She even wears her pussyhat to bed
Watch
out
for
kitty
Watch
her
slay
dragons
Watch!
Even to bed she wears her pussyhat
Eliza Mimski
2/6/2017
Hijab Solidarity Day, Allentown, Pa., January 20, 2017
1.
Old and young, four abreast, with a banner
STAND
TOGETHER.
Orange
letters
stand
against
hate.
We
stand
four abreast with a banner, young and old.
2.
We are marching in the rain side by side, many
heads —
Muslim,
non-Muslim —
covered.
Heads
scarfed.
Hooded,
yarmulked
heads.
We are many, walking side by side in the rain.
3.
At the rally, all eyes, a Muslim woman on her
American
flag
scarf:
I’m
American —
hijab
doesn’t
negate
American.
A Muslim woman, all eyes on her at the rally.
Susan Weaver
2/5/2017
darkness is good, you say Bannon
between blood & cinders, darkness, way to believe
in
blanks
human
toll
in
naught
but
halo
in
between blood & cinders, darkness, way to believe
***
sobering up our lives
life more subtle than life could have been deemed
this
bone
to
ballast
this
night
between
lines
this
life more subtle than life could have been deemed
Debasis Mukhopadhyay
2/3/2017
rivers to run
white lyrics spilling out, rivers to run
heads
crowing
old
swastika
heads
scraping
cleansing
bludgeoning
heads
spilling out white rivers, lyrics to run
***
Wall
nothing hangs on the Wall
each
drop
of
skulls
each
drop
of
history
each
wall hangs on the Nothing
Subject: Washington, D.C. Pre-March musings
Still, bereft; fierce, but–
Awakened.
Storied
Hovering
Shout!
Awakened.
Tears.
March!
Hands.
Awakened,
Bereft, still; but fierce.
Susan Jackson
1/22/2017
The Women’s March
Am I marching – gather signs, muscle
pushing
knees
shudder
protest
pushing
rubble
remains
ahead
pushing
Gather marching signs – I am muscle
Louise White
1/20/2017
Crossing Constitution toward Independence, January 21, 2017
Standing together at the intersection, ready for the light to change
knitted
rainbow
pink
pussyhats
knitted
blood-red
bitch
nastycats
knitted
together at the intersection to the light. Ready. Standing for change.
Angela H. Dale
1/18/2017
Coming Home in Black America
Every minute he is late, she fears
someone
seeing
only
skin
someone
coiled
venomous
armed
someone
she fears every minute. He is late
Dotty Holcomb Doherty
1/14/2017
Wonder Woman Attends the Inauguration
She sets her hair free spinning five times
Cuffs
cross
ricochets
Pence
Cuffs
Trump
lassos
and
Cuffs
Spinning five times, she sets her hair free
Nancy Iannucci
1/9/2017
Turning Sixteen
Mother said, He’s not your father
abandoned
broken
bloodline
drugs
abandoned
nameless
numbness
relief
abandoned
He’s not your father, Mother said.
Kara J. Valore
1/4/2017
Obsession
where you live in my mind
voices
jump
off
walls
voices
crawl
along
baseboards
voices
in my mind where you live
Laurie Kolp
12/31/2016
Haiti
January twelfth two thousand and ten
nameless
crushed
island
salvation
nameless
invaders
proselytizers
slaughter
nameless
two ten and twelfth thousand January.
Matthew Harris
12/3/2016
(Thony Belizaire/AFP/Getty Images)
mass incarceration (an extended skinny)
1
our world has always been
jail.
work.
home.
travels.
jail.
deny
access.
exclude.
jail
has always been our world.
2.
these separate lives.
us
and
them.
mostly
us.
over
here.
hating
us.
separate these lives.
3.
this design of wickedness.
see
it
everyone.
look.
see.
there.
here.
multitudes
see
this design of wickedness.
4.
must we continue to suffer?
this?
we
cannot
believe
this.
who
would
allow
this
to continue. we must suffer?
5.
even in the schools we are
prisoners.
our
essence
unmentioned.
prisoners.
wondering
of
us.
prisoners
we are, even in the schools.
6.
got jail bars on all the houses.
fear
rules
the
streets.
fear
erodes
our
spaces.
fear
got jail bars on all the houses.
7.
you cannot cross
redlines.
tracks.
walls.
borders.
redlines.
suffocating
are
these
redlines
you cannot cross.
8.
we became at last.
free.
at
least
legally.
free
like
dogs
dashing.
free
we became at last
9.
so new prisons were built.
necessary
evils
they
say.
necessary
like
green
hair.
necessary
so new prisons were built.
10.
finally released from them jails.
boys
are
now
men.
boys
of
angry
time.
boys
finally released from them jails.
11. (for betts)
the new jim crow.
bastards
of
the
reagan,
bastards
of
the
clinton,
bastards
of the new jim crow.
12.
man must mean something to
rise.
build.
illuminate.
dazzle.
rise
magically
from
destruction.
rise
man. mean something to someone.
13.
freedom is a deeper memory.
stories
of
maroons.
revolts.
stories
unspoken
like
family
stories.
deeper freedom is a memory.
14.
makes me want to go like norman bates:
psychotic.
adore
peace.
psychotic
when
peace
eludes.
psychotic
like normal bates, make me want to go.
15.
we can all get along
rodney
no
one
heard
rodney.
no
one
respects
rodney
can we all get along?
16.
overcoming is the persistent of continua.
aluta.
forward
like
always.
aluta
keep
on
pushing.
aluta
continua is the persistent of overcoming.
Brian Gilmore
11/12/2016
