Happiness is Hard

                                    © Janne Karlsson

I want to write but I’m

Too damn happy.

Sure, I’m depressed and

I have a shit job and

I haven’t seen a payrise

Since before we all saw

Kim Kardashian’s cunt

But I’m happy,
And it’s hard

I need to be able to write

Without the dove-shit white

Page gradually turning black

I’ve no way to let the

Beast out.  The madness out.

My condition will remain caged,

Locked up and prowling

Inside of me, eating

Whatever’s left of my soul 

-by David Louden

Belfast native David Louden is the author of the roman á clef neo-beat novels Lost Angeles, Bone Idol [bohn ahyd-l] and the novella-short story hybrid White Mexicans chronicling the life of his alter-ego Doug Morgan.  His major influences in literature have been cited as Charles Bukowski, John Fante, William S. Burroughs and Brendan Behan. At present Louden is developing a Noir project for television set in Belfast which he hopes will go into pre-production within the year.

Art Courtesy: Janne Karlsson

Janne Karlsson is a wildly prolific Swedish illustrator and writer.

GUIDED BY REMOTE

the hands are claws,

oyster-cloying genitals of beasts

star-bound.

we are wards of space

like rock’n roll

bound for the unconscious-

destroyers of practical

management.

the hands melt down,

physics scowl,

dreams, molten lava

and music-

given you got

tablature,

can’t match Resurrection or

prepubescent hard-ons, amongst

the awkward dust of the

Tonka truck.        

-by Jay Passer

Jay Passer's work has appeared in print and online since 1988. His most recent chapbook, FLOWER OMELETTE (also including the work of Misti Rainwater-Lites) is available through Lulu. Passer lives and works in San Francisco, the city of his birth.

Painting Courtesy: David Balilty

David Balilty is an Israeli artist with North African roots. He was born in Jerusalem in 1971 to a family of artists and musicians. In his most recent work, David has combined three mediums of  visual artistic experience for his abstract painting.

                                                                                                

Karlsson's Korner: Breakfast at Tiffany's

                                         © Janne Karlsson

                                     Janne Karlsson is a wildly prolific Swedish illustrator and writer.

Kolkata Kolkata!!!

Photo Courtesy: Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee

Debdatta 'Riju' Mukherjee lives in Kolkata and barely survives his insufferable job as an IT professional through poetry, photography and whiskey.

Winter Coverage

The night before the aftermath

I had flurries of my own.

Tasty juices from that labia,

those warm drips

thawing my crave

to rip your flesh with the

tip of my tongue.

The cold winds, howled last night

an extent number of frozen granules

collected in snow drifts,

exhausted shovel fulls.

The erupt shuddering,

took us by storm.

Our calls for an end, go unheard.

Echoing throughout this globe,

of winter coverage.

-by Donald Armfield

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
Donald Armfield. When his minds decides to leak out words, they sometimes make interesting poems, stories, or whatever. He is a coffee fueled family man with a passion for reading and writing. He has been published by Rooster Republic, James Ward Kirk, Dynatox Ministries, and more to come.

Painting Courtesy: Ekaterina Grechani

Ekaterina Grechani  was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia and graduated from Higher Arts Industry Mukhina Academy in Monumental Arts and  Painting. Her works are also found in private collections in Russia, Europe, and America.

To The Editor Who Asked For A Poem

                                                 © Henry Denander

Haven't you heard?  I moved to Utah and died.

No...no...I don't think I died

Well maybe I did die

I am not sure

Leaving for Arches tomorrow

If you still want poems

In five days

I will send

I will leave your

Face up

To remind me

Or maybe this

Is a poem

If you can tell

Use it

One never knows

Now days

- by Linda King  7/6/15

Linda King, rasied in the wild country of Boulder, Utah.  The last place in USA where mail was delivered on horseback. Author of Loving and Hating Charles Bukowski, a humorous and wild record of women's lib and romance in the 70's. Author of numerous poetry books and a novel Mad Ouija. Lives in St. George, Utah.

Henry Denander was born in 1952 and lives in Stockholm, Sweden. He is an artist and a poet and his latest book “The Accidental Navigator” was published by Lummox Press. 

He has a website with poetry and art at www.henrydenander.com.

pain and mistakes

   

© Rafael González                                                                              © Rafael González

I am recovering from this open surgery

I am recovering from this pain and mistakes

people make even at the cost of a life

to them we are just fucking numbers.

They almost got me by pushing insulin

when i never had a history of diabetics

and I started shouting when I realized.

Soon they stopped and got so angry that

they threw me out of the ICU.

I was lucky not to get into that

insulin-induced coma from which

many people could never return,

hanging midway like Artaud

during his last few months

between living and the dead.

-by Subhankar Das

                                                                                  
Subhankar das is a poet, bookstore owner, and publisher of Bangla experimental materials. He produced six short films that have been honored at international film festivals, and has translated the works of Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski in Bengali.

Art Courtesy: Rafael González

Rafael González is a visual and sound artist and he hails from Spain.