An independent literary press featuring poetry and short fiction at the confluence of Charles Simic and Ray Bradbury. We publish books and a periodic digital magazine, Hidden Peak Review.
“I felt myself on the edge of the world;
peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night.”
— H. P. LOVECRAFT
Spotlight
The Oracle
SAM WASN’T UNHAPPY to be called back to work so soon after little Gracie’s funeral. For the past two weeks since he’d challenged the psychic that Maura brought into their house she hardly answered him when he spoke to her,…
Phrenospasms
Time becomes a butterfly with a broken wing humming in my hands; like it, I have been subdividing myself, dotting my poems with the blood beading on my cuticles, my mind as the land left on its own, riding out…
Aqueduct
The dark waters teem with catfish. You might catch one by casting a line and letting it flow downstream, the hook tumbling with the current, hoping one gifts you with a bite before the spool reaches its conclusion. This is…
Painkillers
IF HE POSITIONS his head perfectly, it’ll align with the drops of water streaming down his head and ears so he can’t hear. He becomes born again, without hearing. Instead: vibrations that soothe and shut things out. Long showers have…
Windmill Tequila
THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION raged. Alejandro fled to Texas. He drank tequila. He bemoaned the fact that tequila, once cheap, now cost dearly. He became a citizen in a land in which he was a stranger, but what else can a…
Getting Straight
A square-shouldered steelworker in a hospital gown, pale as pearl, waddles the hallway pushing an IV pole on wheels, holding it firm as a handshake. His heart is beating in a cage, swelled like a sponge, vitals through the roof.…
A Tree Of Such Perfect Form
All trees are remarkable things. However, just yesterday I noticed a tree of such perfect form, it just deserves to have two people realize they have just fallen in love in the cool shade of its sweeping green canopy. —…
Acceptance
The hellcats above the ceiling remain warm and busy. But also miffed about firecrackers at dawn. I’ve been bad and good and bad and good and so bad I wanted to die, so good mothers started a charity. Listen, no…
Gaia Talks Back
You levitate with guilt because you ironed a man’s collars in place of his mother. Pressed yourself into a neat pleat, removing the septum ring, growing out the side shave at his demand. So concerned with how you’ve damaged your…
Snow Sticks Around
This winter I’m trying to find satisfaction in scratching my back on the corner of the fireplace that I can’t repay. A solid outline could solve all my problems but out in the cold first I must learn to be…
El Cardón
Do not give me roses: delicate tissue-thin skin withering where strewn down wedding aisles. Petal promises arranged in crystal vases. The ferocious heat of me with you too easily swallows scarlett blooms. Give me instead a cactus. A fearless behemoth,…
Homecoming King
It takes a few seconds to train spiders to travel in my suitcase. I trust the bent legs will protect me from ancestral pollens, suggest a design for my next tattoo. I have faith piped in music will land this…
And I Never Stopped Dreaming
You dropped your backpack In my kitchen. Everything Spilled out and scattered Across the linoleum: Pencils, ChapStick, Candy wrappers And a dog-eared copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude. These became the contents …
What Do I Wear to My Friend’s Funeral?
I DIDN’T REPLY to Jacob’s last text message to me, but I did show up to his funeral. I’d spent the entire morning deciding what to wear. A lot of the clothes that I once wore don’t quite fit me…
Inflation Is A Flagrant One
I’m burning twenties like a kid with ants in his pants and a magnifying glass. Memories of Hendrix in a rainbow shirt glance off the refrigerator magnets in a ricochet blaze of Saturday sun between seasonal showers. In each life…
Grandpa Mohr
Blindness did not deter him from shuffling every day down the path along the Canal at Buckeye Lake to Harry’s Bar for a few beers, white cane, a gift from the Lions Club, extended in front of him like a…
The Glass Slumber
Cryonics n. the process of freezing a body at the moment of its death with the hope that it will be brought to life at some future time. ~ The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary This definition was like a sick amen…
After the Virus, Royalty Came Back to Rule the Land
Sitting here at the dining room table sun bouncing and shifting through the curtains with sleep still left in the panes — wide-eyes gaze at Farview Park. Some Du-ragged, some hooded, sagging pants with creaseless Jordans Kings and Queens spring…
While Seeking to Understand Her Brother’s Death
My youngest daughter requests facts. Floral-printed cards litter the counter, attempting to temper our loss with calligraphy in pastel hues. Grief is a journey, curved letters proclaim. But no map exists for this dark forest. No charted stars beckon from…
I Wake Up Dreaming, Undress Myself
I wake up dreaming, undress myself to go out into the world. Cars are being driven in the ditches; the roads are all empty. On the sidewalks, dogs are walking their owners on a short leash, and a thoughtful bee…
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