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. [...]
Articles by Vending Machine Press
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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, [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
Vending Machine Press 