Kailey Tedesco
The cheshire-tooth simpers
away and the ferris wheel, empty,
persists against grey winds.
Broken glass skitters across
linoleum like dice on a table:
it peoples the abandoned casino.
The shore in its pure being:
square-scene polaroid
left to develop in the
November morning.
Huddled on a bench: we
exist with the warmth of
cheeseburgers, dazzled
by the bare horizon
bathing in the sun.
KAILEY TEDESCO‘s poetry aims to channel the viscerally piercing voices of Plath and Dickinson, while conveying the modern world in a disfiguring and bewildering lens. She is currently enrolled in Arcadia University’s creating writing-poetry MFA program. Her work has been featured in Lehigh Valley Vanguard and she is a poetry editor for Marathon Literary Review.
Catherine Weiss
When the days grow short and cold,
We burn the formal scarecrow.
We place him up upon the cross;
He wears an old tuxedo.
We douse him in some kerosene,
Set alight his natty tie;
The night is raw — this bitter wind
Means scarecrow now must die.
The flames whip up in frenzied bursts,
Consuming him entirely.
Cries of pitied shock ring out from we
Who watch this show, so fiery.
In winter we will spread the ash
O’er fields and snowy crests.
There the formal scarecrow lies;
In cinders he will rest.
When the springtime comes at last,
We sew cufflinks in the earth,
And from the end of scarecrow
Comes a gentle kind of birth.
Summertime is when we work;
There’s little need for prayer.
When the days are long and bright,
We harvest formalwear.
CATHERINE WEISS is a poet and author living in Northampton, MA. More about her work can be found at catherineweiss.com.
Rachna Kulshrestha
inevitable
I don’t know if
I began from a drop
of protein or a blink
of love but I will
end as a lump of dirt
stains
natural gaps in her teeth hold
cigarettes, pipes, betel leaves —
stains of truth under white lies
RACHNA KULSHRESTHA is an Electrical Engineer by profession who likes to read and write while she is working on digital circuits. She is inspired by her multicultural background and her vast travel experiences. She lives in McKinney, TX, with her husband, two children and a ton of weird ideas.
