two poems by liz minette
After After you died, your house was still a mess; like always, always when we’d come over, you’d say ‘Excuse the mess.’ Step ladder and paint [...]
Poems
Two Poems by Michelle Watters
moon goddess moonlights as a suburban housewife she could be drawing down the moon but instead she loads the dishwasher reminds her daughter to do her homework she has the [...]
Three Poems by Ariel Francisco
Self Portrait With Moths After Rain Moths stumble through dusk, descending towards the glow of a glimmering lamppost mirrored in the water of a rain-filled pothole. Self [...]
Vending Machine Press Issue #10
Photo by: Johannes Huwe The very fine writers for Issue 10 are: Autobiography by Deirdre Coyle Blizzard of 1950, Eatontown NJ by Lee Landau Sheboygan County, Wisconsin No.1 [...]
Blizzard of 1950, Eatontown NJ by Lee Landau
Sometimes, too many times Mom went crazy, never meant for children, particularly three girls in a low rent, attached home, three way-shared bedroom, and seven feet of play [...]
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin No.1 by John Dorsey
a kid jacking another kid in the face outside the elementary school an old man in a fur coat carrying a dollhouse picking through our garbage the loss of magic that [...]
the rainy part of the world by mark petterson
After the rundown middle school where I tutor a thirteen-year-old who reads at a second-grade level, and really we just read comic books and he pretends he is asleep and I [...]
Two Poems by Sarah Sala
POEM AFTER MAN: KITCHEN TABLE 1. I thought here’s a man who owns who he is. Look how natural you move in your animal skin. 2. Paraffin wax burns at a steady rate of 0.1 [...]
two poems by megan kemple
Thanks for the Christmas Present I’ve always preferred thunderstorms to sunny days, Rain on rusted tin roofs, steady as my Mother’s tears, pinging the side of an A-frame [...]
Two Poems by Emily Bernard
TAKE A LEAF FROM MARY’S BOOK Virginal – winding as a wordy tour of a world For thrill rides – a four-minute toast to a man There is a limelight and you are green [...]
two poems by carolyn elias
Animals in Winter A pale yellow sun observes brown trout undulating inside a frozen lake, the red swollen bellies of cardinals cajoling grey squirrels and hares scurrying [...]
Rolling Papers by Audrey El-Osta
it was papercraft + origami, it was incensory + aromatic. You made an art of it when you taught me how to roll my cigarettes in the park. Pinch it, hold the tip, lick, twist [...]
Versions of the Truth by Richard King Perkins II
For J.P. In gym class, I saw his legs five times a week for three years of middle school. Those tortured limbs never stopped scaring me— to my eyes, they still looked as [...]
Chalk outlines of a future self by Jay Sizemore
I will leave the water running while I brush my teeth, because it soothes me. Being wasteful can be soothing. I wonder if every bad habit can be traced to a moment when the [...]
days i can’t carry by anna meister
Road trips are a good way to test compatibility. I know I love him because he doesn’t irritate me all that much even when I’ve only eaten trail mix, my legs folded asleep [...]
Vending Machine Press Issue #9
Photo by – Johannes Huwe The very fine writers for Issue 9 are: He by Lauren Millici Spill by Karie Fugett Four Poems by Justin Hyde When cleaning out the closet I find [...]
he by lauren millici
says I’m a break from routine. Spends the night inside of me, a vacancy at a Motel Six. Fucks without his wedding ring, pays in ripped sheets and apologies. Swears he’s [...]
Spill by Karie Fugett
The day my husband died, April 20, 2010, BP oil poured into the Gulf of Mexico. I was told about the spill weeks later, sometime between the day I buried him and the day our [...]
four poems by Justin Hyde
i haven’t been with his wife in three months as i come out of the showers towel around my waist at the ymca he’s standing at a locker across from me stripping off [...]
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