drowning

Rock Pools by F.C Malby

‘Look, a starfish, bright orange. Look at it.’ Sophie points to the ripples in the rock pool, her pigtails drop down over her cheeks, cover the freckles that have faded [...]

January 18, 2017

scars and other stories by stefan lutter

February 22, 2017

Dim lights and crowded room shoes scuffing and embarrassed cell phones. Prominent man, stands, emphasizes his [...]
Prodigal by Michele Madigan Somerville

September 2, 2016

When the clock strikes, the masks are delivered. I pause in a doorway, a shade, a champagne glass in my hand. Station stop: [...]
Milk Crates by Melanie Tague

April 1, 2014

I watched you once sitting on the bench by the courthouse, staring at the ground and I whispered that you were missing the [...]
Autobiography by Deirdre Coyle

June 1, 2015

I was born in a haunted mansion upstate. We moved. I lived in the South. I learned witchcraft in my sleep. In a dream, the [...]
Crushed Ice by Mark Belair

January 4, 2016

The old, downtown fish shop stands closed, and not just for the day, it seems: the rolled-paper dispenser empty, the shiny [...]
Two Poems by Chloe Clark

May 29, 2016

All the Tea that My Creepy Heart Desires Lapsang souchong, oolong, or maybe pu-erh, tasting of hay, of smoke, of the sun [...]
An Inauguration Poem As Ghost Written For Donald Trump and other poems by J. Bradley

January 26, 2017

I thank thee, third party voter, for putting your ethics over your country. I am here today because of you. These last eight [...]
Coffee Stains by Christina Murphy

December 1, 2013

Carrying a Starbucks Venti with double cream down the steps, he trips, hits his head, and the coffee spills out into a small [...]
It Always Rains by Tim Wilkinson

June 1, 2014

The small room lay quiet, cloaked in shadow and smoky haze, silent save two voices and the occasional, solid clank of steel [...]
post-inauguration poem by Shy Watson

February 6, 2017

it is a saturday night i am at a strip mall dunkin donuts in south philadelphia in my pajamas i am Irrationally Mad about [...]
Two Poems by Kayla Rae Candrilli

November 1, 2015

Pater Familias: Way with Words He waves from the sepia-toned dock, the folds in his Army uniform crisp. Forty-five years [...]
Vending Machine Press Issue #5

August 1, 2014

Dear Readers, Welcome to the new issue of Vending Machine Press. The quality of the writers we have encountered so far [...]