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Womannotated – Big Teeth

January 17th, 2021

Big Teeth

Deep in the forest in a flannel nightdress,
a little girl lingers without much on
her chest, shame in her heart, much to confess.
Here she is safe, completely at rest. Gone
the behemoths of yesteryear. Her cheek
on chenille, her brain bereft of all fear
inside this night sans starlight except a meek
constellation of which faithfully appears
from a bedside nightlight replacing a moon
which made her weep more nights than swoon. Tonight
she looks no father than this light of her room
which is not a metaphor — means to write.
No beseeching big teeth inside these woods —
it ends with her pen like make believe should.

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January 17, 2021 0

Womannotated – Macabre Burlesque

November 14th, 2020

Macabre Burlesque

I live in a genre the aged read.
Decrepit men tell their mendacities
before a final tomcatnap beneath
cracked granite mausoleum roof. This squeezed
social register, not quite weatherproof,
trickles on nipples; a drooping sundress
exposes flesh, rose, only ghosts reprove
or molest, witness this macabre burlesque.

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November 14, 2020 0

Womannotated – Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Saunter through snapdragons, the cobblestone path

inside his house, into a bath prepared

with Dead Sea salts by a sociopath—

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September 26, 2020 0

Womannotated – The Second Time

August 29th, 2020

The Second Time

She offers flesh beneath aromatic trees

against dark gates without password, key, sign

her kind is welcome here — save kerosene

in lanterns near. Arms in grate, stretched supine,

between dove gray sky, columbines, beside

cobblestone of almond, slate. Closes eyes, Continue reading “Womannotated – The Second Time” →

August 29, 2020 0

Womannotated – A Poet And Her Anxiety Walk Into The Woods

August 22nd, 2020

A Poet And Her Anxiety Walk Into The Woods

A poet and her anxiety walk

into the woods — the person, thing and place

misunderstood for none of them can talk

adequately to explain how retraced steps

in dirt unburden pain. Though two depart

just one returns. Emaciated pines Continue reading “Womannotated – A Poet And Her Anxiety Walk Into The Woods” →

August 23, 2020 0

Womannotated – Death In The Air

August 16th, 2020

(Content warning: horror, death, suicide, some discussion of Midsommar with what could be considered general, mild spoilers)

Death In The Air

A scent in twilight past breaths of the beast

who stalks the edges of forests on the

phalanges of feet, quickening heartbeats

of little lost girls, panting in pine trees

near the end of the world. Pale hirsute ear

you peer where the needles are bare. Eyes straight

ahead, mutter pieces of prayers. Fear

Continue reading “Womannotated – Death In The Air” →

August 16, 2020 0

Womannotated – Crow Castle

August 9th, 2020

Crow Castle

Each maiden slumbers in her childhood bed.

Crow collects a lock from each, twines a nest

with garden twigs, hair ribbons azure, red—

sufficient room for one without a guest. Continue reading “Womannotated – Crow Castle” →

August 9, 2020 0

Womannotated – Delicate

August 2nd, 2020

Delicate

Some porcelain is missing from my cheek,

a hole you study while you think I sleep.

In light of day it bothers you I’m weak.

In darkness you find penetrable deep.

Continue reading “Womannotated – Delicate” →

August 2, 2020 0

Womannotated – Why Charlie Can’t Leave The Factory

July 26th, 2020

Why Charlie Can’t Leave The Factory

After a reveal of cotton candy sheep being
shorn for confectionery purposes in the
Burton Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film:
Willy Wonka – “I’d rather not talk about this one.”

You peer a possible pasture in a
pink corridor. Perhaps peeking proves it?
Perchance a perpendicular door plays
with peripheral vision, pomegranate
sheep producing shorn candy floss piles pruned
to palatable heaps? Panicked to peep
Continue reading “Womannotated – Why Charlie Can’t Leave The Factory” →

July 26, 2020 0

Summoning by Laurie Koensgen

Ridges in my fingernails––

worrisome trenches, etchings that

presage diseases and loss, niches where

suspicion insinuates itself. Instead I summon:

ridges of my knuckles, thumb-tucked fists,

taut brown skin tallowed over the bone

as I brace to take on the icy lake,

to punch the water’s skin;

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July 23, 2020 0

Fear Thyself by Stephen Embleton

I lie on the bottom of the pool, my back resting lightly on the rough, cool marbelite; staring motionless up at the surface of the water. Four feet of water separates me from fresh, breathable air.

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July 20, 2020 1

Kids

I became a widow at the tender age of nine.

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July 14, 2020 0

A tale of three descendants

always.the.same.year (2020), 2048×2048, digital: Here our faces plunge into the endless vanity of social media until the bubbles stop. Our digital selves/saviors are the ones bleeding sanity from our tarnished skin.

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July 14, 2020 0

Womannotated – Hot Chocolate!

Two Golden Tickets sonnets (my Charlie and The Chocolate Factory homage book of poems) from the Hot Chocolate section which involves chocolatier love triangles, femme fatale industrial spies, strip clubs and licorice .

Sugar Daddy’s

A strip club in which Arthur Slugworth, chocolatier competitor of Willy Wonka, meets the woman who will become his secretary and industrial spy and future lover of Willy Wonka.

American Candy Expo meets in
Chicago each year. Arthur Slugworth’s jet
consistently appears before show begins
day early to play. Bittersweet secrets
over his butterscotch schnapps confessed
to the ponytailed stripper; her peach ring
pop, bubblegum thong, sweet visage suggests
she is a shell you could tell anything Continue reading “Womannotated – Hot Chocolate!” →

June 24, 2020 0

JUNE 2020 Guest Editor Is NEVER ANGELINE NøRTH!!! THEME: LITERATURE FOR THE ABOLITION OF TIME

Burning House Press are excited to welcome NEVER ANGELINE NøRTH as our JUNE 2020 guest editor! As of today NEVER will take over editorship of Burning House Press online for the full month of JUNE.

Submissions are open from today – 1st JUNE and will remain open until 23RD JUNE.

NEVER’S theme for the month is as follows