Author: brieflywrite

Paula Wood

Entropy
shows
its passage
like
the curling rose
like
coffee dusted
on the metal of us.

Paula Wood lives in the North East of England and loves to write. This is the first time her poetry has been published.

Matthew Whisker

dead bird on the bus
politicians are all shit
romance has died
all my friends are ghosts

Matthew Whisker is a writer from Lincoln, England. He is on the autistic spectrum. He has a passion for normalising and breaking the taboo of mental health through his writing. He is currently studying at the University of Lincoln. He currently serves on the editorial team for The Lincoln Review and Bitter Fruit Review. His work has been published in several publications, including Lucky Pierre Zine and Doghouse Press. He has work forthcoming in Push Up Daisies! and Lemon Curd Magazine.

Jason de Koff

They planted periwinkle on her plot,
but the infernal winds,
released the marrow’s moisture,
revealing the soil’s dry bones.

The dust that blew
infected airways,
poisoning the lungs and souls,
who visited afterwards.

The lashed sticks had broken,
and now lay among a detritus,
of crusted lace and broken glass,
collected along peeling fenceposts.

The sun’s rays don’t reach here,
this forgotten depression,
of how things used to be,
shrine to what could have been.

Jason de Koff is an associate professor of agronomy and soil science at Tennessee State University.  He lives in Nashville, TN with his wife, Jaclyn, and his two daughters, Tegan and Maizie. He has published in a number of scientific journals, and recently had poetry accepted in other literary journals. His short story, ‘The Gods of Indianapolis’, was published in 2014 in the Mythic Indy anthology published by Well Done Marketing. Follow Jason on Twitter (@JasonPdK3) or Instagram (@jasondekoff).

Jasmine Flowers

Jasmine Flowers is a well-watered poet from Birmingham, AL. Her favorite flowers should be jasmines, but she loves peonies too. She received her BA in English from the University of Alabama. Currently, she is a poetry editor for Variant Literature Journal. Her poems are published in Cypress: A Literary Journal, dreams walking, Rejection Letters, and more. Follow her on Twitter (@jas_flow).

Aaron Sandberg

when on our porch after the first fight,
buzzing, looking to the ridge of the roof
where two weathered halves met—

some budding hive abandoned
for a better place, or equally likely,
beautifully but terribly beginning

Aaron Sandberg resides in Illinois where he teaches. His recent poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Asimov’s Science Fiction, English Journal, Drunk Monkeys, The Racket, Writers Resist, Yes Poetry, Unbroken, One Sentence Poems, Vita Brevis Press, Literary Yard, and elsewhere. You might find him—though socially-distant—on Instagram (@aarondsandberg).