Vending Machine Press
  • Home
  • About
  • Submissions

I am my own planet by Meg Johnson

I don’t suffer from night terrors, but if I ever do, I hope I scream out, Neely O’Hara! I could scream this out while masturbating. I’m masturbating for Mormons. They [...]

November 22, 2020

Quietning Man by Sheldon Lee Compton

What helps is to have a total lack of curiosity. That’s what he told them. It was the first time in seven years he had said more than a single word in response to someone. [...]

November 17, 2020

The Price of the Ticket to Heaven by Raphael Maurice

Stay & hold me & these suffering hands. For I won’t be long. I will not remain unread like a book for God does come & blows the dust from my back & says [...]

August 14, 2019

Psychic Mountains Ten Thousand Feet High by Sheldon Lee Compton

Clifton’s home is the same as anywhere; curses and miracles happen in the same small steps, and the difference between the two are twin mysteries. But it’s not the same, [...]

August 8, 2019

Coffee and Cigarettes and other poems by Benjamin Blake

Coffee & Cigarettes Sometimes, life doesn’t seem so bad A pot of black coffee brewing on the kitchen counter Cigarette burning peacefully away in the ashtray One soul, [...]

March 1, 2019

Sore Spirits and other stories by Ashlie Allen

Sore spirits The reservation spirits are sore again. They need our energy. Mom locks the door, useless as it is. We can hear them crying as they stagger towards the porch, [...]

February 22, 2019

The wine label as poetry 3 by Lindsey Thaden

The wine label as poetry, 3 Ingredients for fermentation: Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara Smashbox Halo Perfecting Powder Urban Decay Vice Lipstick – Backseat That black, [...]

February 18, 2019

A Small Bestiary Within by Raphael Maurice

[A Small Bestiary Within] They want a sweet country boy, tender, true as hell. At least they seem to, they do, until failures mark up his face. Until his tail even, is short [...]

February 18, 2019

The King of Hearts is the Loneliest of Kings and other poems by Steve Passey

The King of Hearts is the Loneliest of Kings Scars and Tattoos: Every scar is a story; a tattoo is just someone else’s art, so The King of Hearts rests on my shoulder. [...]

February 18, 2019

Off Season & Real Image, Lens, Virtual Image by Jenya Doudareva

Off Season Sticky heat, sounds of electrical lines, traffic, commotion – all gone. The blue of the sky is crispier, the trees are fiery red and orange, and it’s [...]

November 26, 2018

A Victory by Raphael Maurice

The ocean was black near the shore and farther out a storm was massing in the sky. He sat, looking out over the water, looking up aimlessly at the night from the tiki bar, [...]

November 22, 2018

The Heart Is an Organ on Fire by Sheldon Lee Compton

Tracy had sensed Bruce was different but had been too interested in his company to see any sign of it early on. The church carpenter shook her hand, the last load of old [...]

November 15, 2018

Leaving Deneb by Jenya Doudareva

Two deer along the trail yesterday. First, they hesitated as I passed them – muscles tensed and ears on alert, but eventually decided against fleeing, evidently, and [...]

April 18, 2018

Autumn leaves and other poems by Alison Znamierowski

Autumn Leaves with Pictures we opened each other like maps explored, traced our fingers along every outline, got utterly and joy-fully lost and at last convinced ourselves we [...]

October 23, 2017

A Blossoming Storm Shades Reality and Insomniac Act by Alexis Bates & Logan February

Some physical existence & the yearning, always. Sky, jaw-wide, hurtling fictions to the ground. Witness this descent in slow motion, this deft dive & this graceful [...]

October 23, 2017

Splintered Love and other poems by J. B Stone

Our love used to be this cozy little cabin Secluded from the irrational drama The world throws at others Our love wasn’t strong enough As the cabin started to split apart [...]

October 23, 2017

The Unmaking of a Savior and other poems by Khaya Osborne

i am an unsovereign, yet abandoned nation. my capitols have all their own names but look the same: faceless, skin thin as the lesions left by raw flax leaves, their cheeks as [...]

October 23, 2017

ACQUA DI PARMA and other poems by Frank Rubino

Not that green afternoon, when walking by a taco truck near Montclair High School, I felt a bird drop a load on my forehead. It was like a squeezed-empty toothpaste tube. [...]

October 23, 2017

Nightswimmer Poems by Todd Mercer

Hazard Warning, Ludington Beach closed, high surf warning. Turbid storm waves churn out there six or seven feet. Unsafe, they say, but now’s ideal for me. I leave the car [...]

October 23, 2017

Posts pagination

1 2 … 18 »
In the spotlight

I WANT TO BE LIKE CIRCE POISONING THE SEA by DEIRDRE COYLE

Vending Machine Press Author Videos

SEARCH

Past Contributors

  • Coffee Stains by Christina Murphy

    Carrying a Starbucks Venti with double cream down the steps, he trips, hits his head, and the coffee spills out into a small [...]
  • The Repercussions of Clipping a Parrot’s Wings by Matthew Dexter

    Last night, I loaded the pipe with freebase and watched the Houston Astros balling through the rusty rabbit ears. Ocean [...]
  • No Picture

    Prodigal by Michele Madigan Somerville

    When the clock strikes, the masks are delivered. I pause in a doorway, a shade, a champagne glass in my hand. Station stop: [...]
  • On Balancing On A Steel Girder by Jacob Aiello

    Have you seen those photographs of the shirtless men balancing on steel girders thousands of feet above New York City? Yes. [...]
  • Cena Trimalchionis by Benjamin Goluboff

    The long withdrawing roar can no longer be heard above the small-arms fire from the clubs and schools and churches. Forests [...]
  • The Season Finale by Carly Berg

    George, I realized as we turned onto our street, had ruined my life. His eagerness to play big provider made it too easy to just be a mother. Our daughter barely looked up from chatting with her new dorm mates when I waved good-bye. Now I was nothing. <a href=""> Read More... [...]
  • here is a list of things you left behind by Alison Leigh Znamierowski

    10)  purple clovers plucked & siphoned by hungry mouths on summer walks, discarded into roadside fields 9) a missing [...]
  • Fucking a Enuch by Laurie Lessen Reiche

    Entanglements. Facebook is Fascist. Don’t you love me? Don’t you get me? Poor marching drummer fallen in a ditch, legs [...]
  • Slick as an Albino Seal from Knee to Toe and other poems by Jeremiah Driver

    lit by moonlight, she said I want you to know I’m beautiful. Her shirt folded above her head like a jellyfish. She hid her [...]
  • The Last Guest and other poems by Olivia Mardwig

    It was for a birthday- around a table, flutes of wine and smoke. Laid out- dishes of shifting water for the ash, tapped into [...]
  • the day i stopped being a black hole and other poems by Linda M. Crate

    “i bet you don’t remember me,” he said, flashing me a devil may cry smirk and eyes full of talons; i was a [...]
  • Our Man by Meg Pokrass

    This week our stunted man hobbles around the house wearing fluffy, taped-together slippers. It appears as if he has broken a [...]
Archives

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Category Cloud
Essay Flash Fiction interview Memoir Non Fiction Poems poetry sci-fi Short Stories
Terms of Use
  • Submissions
  • Terms of Use
  • About
  • Home
  • About
  • Submissions

2024 Vending Machine Press - Masthead Photo by Johannes Huwe - Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Subscribe Subscribed
    Vending Machine Press
    Join 281 other subscribers

    Have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.

  • Vending Machine Press
    View site in Reader
    Manage subscriptionsSign upLog in
    Report this content
    Collapse this bar
Loading Comments...