Special FeatureJoanna ValenteJuliet Cook, special feature, poetry

Juliet Cook: Rebirth the Parts I Hated

Special FeatureJoanna ValenteJuliet Cook, special feature, poetry
Juliet Cook: Rebirth the Parts I Hated
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Rivulets

 

Another catalyst to backtrack

into the past. My mind keeps on

rewriting, as though trying

to rebirth the parts I hated.

 

Maybe it's better than missing

the parts I loved. Part of the problem

is that half of what I love is bad for me

and it feels like the only way

to tone down one bad habit

is to get involved with another.

 

I prefer my wine sweet,

but I like how the red looks like rivulets of blood

and has a higher alcohol content.

At least I don't keep vodka inside my own home anymore.



Maybe I'm a dumb cliché.

I have my own thoughts, but I tone them down

because they're overly anxious

and frenzied and obsessive and compulsive

and I wake up feeling embarrassed

by my own brain.


I could call it a deluge,

but that would make it sound more powerful

and important than it actually is.

My friend told me she was reading a book

that viewed addiction as a learning disability.

I didn't say it out loud, but inside my own head

 

I immediately wondered

if I might be disabled in more than one way.

At least I try my best to be honest

inside my own addled brain.

Juliet Cook is a grotesque glitter witch medusa hybrid brimming with black, grey, silver, purple, and dark red explosions. She is drawn to poetry, abstract visual art, and other forms of expression. Her poetry has appeared in a peculiar multitude of literary publications. You can find out more at www.JulietCook.weebly.com.

Special FeatureJoanna ValenteKailey Tedesco, poetry, special feature

Kailey Tedesco: To Suck Dry

Kailey Tedesco's books She Used to be on a Milk Carton (April Gloaming Publications) and These Ghosts of Mine, Siamese (Dancing Girl Press) are both forthcoming. She is the editor-in-chief of a Rag Queen Periodical and a performing member of the NYC Poetry Brothel. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. You can find her poetry featured or forthcoming in Prelude, Prick of the Spindle, Bellevue Literary Review, Vanilla Sex Magazine, and more. For more information, please visit kaileytedesco.com. 

Special FeatureJoanna ValenteKailey Tedesco, poetry, special feature
Kailey Tedesco: To Suck Dry
Special FeatureJoanna ValenteGary Charles Wilkens, special feature, poetry

Gary Charles Wilkens: Edit the Sad Parts

Gary Charles Wilkens’ first book, The Red Light Was My Mind, won the 2006 Texas Review Breakthrough Poetry Prize. His manuscript Fayetteville was a Finalist in the 2014 Moon City Review Poetry Contest. His poems have appeared more than 70 journals and anthologies, including The Texas Review, Moon City Review, Passages North, the Adirondack Review, James Dickey Review, Melancholy Hyperbole, and Midwest Quarterly. His fiction has appeared in Drunk Monkeys, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, and Pale Ghosts Magazine. His day job is Associate Professor of English at Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia.

Special FeatureJoanna ValenteGary Charles Wilkens, special feature, poetry
Gary Charles Wilkens: Edit the Sad Parts