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INTERLUDE by Max Restaino

The roadside is lined with old dead men, dessicated limbs splayed to the sky
and soil past their noses. Black clouds split open and spray themselves at the
world. Clots of bioluminescent gore bounce off the frozen mud.

These walls and windows come
and go, drifting out of sight
between long blinks. There are
morning where my ceiling is the
sky, singing with wind and the
ghost of an old train whistle,
desolate moan stretched along

Stains hiding in the fold where heaven is supposed to be.

The white dome bubbling off the bottom-front of my face like a blister ready to
puke itself into the open air. Bile that rolls across the ceiling and drips

off the
top of the doorjamb. Sick light swims through the glisten.

The waves lapping the shore erode the world, ocean spilling over the stems rooting
this place to the dirt.

Throbbing gray whole, wet and concave, lip bejeweled in a half-crescent of calcific
protrusions. A well of nothing, parturient with a small pink lump, goosefleshed
sinuous oyster. A tale distilled to its base, retching that whispers a cold window down
the empty hallway.

I fall, blind, uncapped, spilling over the walls, absorbed into the porous
labyrinth of hallways and boxes; a brick tower blooming upside down—a
stalactite on the sky—waves of grey reflected on the bottom of clouds—slow
red lightning that cracks the surface of the ocean like shattering glass.

Overhead is the choppy surface of the sea. The remnants of shipwrecks and
oil rigs paint the horizon like a hanged city skyline. Below, roiling grey clouds
and long rolls of thunder. Shadows that could be the backs of ancient

leviathan that carved that great valley in the world and in time.

The moment loops in the porous mortar disintegrating between the bricks—boxes of different lives glued together—a scream upon deaf ears—radios playing in empty rooms—whispering a breeze of static electricity down the hallway.

The gun is in the drawer of my desk. The bubble of infection in the earth splits and wafts a blizzard of
sporous disease into the campsite. Noxious fumes stir the fire into a frenzy that scorches the detritus on
the ground. Bodies thrown together as the ground tilts—flesh melding on contact—a pile of thrashing
limbs and gnashing maws and rolling eyes—dissociated personalities—memories smashed to a
paste—mixed together—smeared across the underside of the forest canopy—catching
evaporation—raining grey mildew onto the red brick ruins.

*

The film grain captured in the still image wraps around me like a mesh of static electricity—picked apart by nervous nails snapping at my skin like pins and needles—blood flowing home, passing heat to their tunnels—exploding from the iron ring at the end of the barrel—pale mollusks that splatter underfoot.

The forest will be shorn away. Nowhere left to hide but under the soil. Trees sent
down river, blanched like the heaped corpses of death camp victims—algae flowing
along the rivers surface, shredded by currents—foaming white rapids—on the living
room floor vomiting—collecting bricks from the ruined building—slashing my wrists
in a bathtub—swallowing a fistful of Xanax.

We exist in footsteps. Shadows rippling like water. Colorless light caught in your
eyes. A storm brewing between stones. Hunting whispers in the mortar. Wet red
dripping from the fingers on your cross-brace.

Flakes of memory drift past the backs of my eyes. The world is born in pale gray light. Shadows bloom from the horizon. Candlelight quivering against the darkness like oil in water.

Your skin doesn’t fit right and there are too many teeth in your mouth.

Moving white specks like storm-blown snow swirl in the air over his head. He doesn’t
look up from the page that is filling with ink. Black lines bleed as they cross and wave
and fall over the paper. Flakes getting caught in his gore matted hair.

I’m still breathing in the spaces you can’t see.

excerpt from STREAMBED by Marty Cain

the privatized body’s softest eye

scavenged, sparrow dangled by

the nerve, the chick’s maws open mewling

for new food, solar filter, through

the wing, the algae blooms from the eye

in the body’s center, that is the eye

the beak open, a skinless grape drains

white juice, garments luxuriate by

the water, the denim stained with black fluid

crusted, rivets rusting, the Space Jam t-shirt

growing moss & a weed protrudes thru the martian’s eye

the churning stream, the pinholes of light shot

from the belt buckle, run on, broken-in

leather, the trees surrounding the streambed

drained of sap, money, husk & beak-

shaped holes, wet bark plugged with semen

leaking semen, onto the nest, full of semen, tapped

for syrup over a fire, beyond the driveway’s meadow

flames dance around human bodies

in May, the native plywood bearing pagan text

layers that splinter, the body’s chest made

a goblet, made bread by a razorback, who split it open, having fallen in

/              /              /              /              /             

& digested it, the body

fertilizes poems, foments clouds shaped

like headless birds, teeth, baby hairs atop the feet

singed, when leaping fire, the stream-

bed where the body rotted, made into

earthly vein, fleshy vehicle of white

fish & spider eggs, water glowing from

runoff, like earth’s violin, from the riesling farm

the server hold, the stonewort absorbs minerals

& lawn clippings & regenerates as a carpet

in the burning body’s dugout skull

from the crystal socket, to the stream, from

the socket, to the stream, from

the space between nothing &

the pornographic cable splitting

history into scavenged wire, the VHS brain

inside the drone viewing a home video

of golden straw, little league, newborn

baby crying suckling a finger

the gleam of latex & disinfectant

in the hospital, hallway serotonin

consciousness emanating beneath

the door, of the birthing scene

the screaming partner drinking blue

Powerade eating Goldish or wallpaper

separating the bodies giving

birth, and paying money, and giving

birth, and paying money, and giving now the drone zeroes in

/              /              /              /              /              /

on the body splayed

w/ eggsac protruding, the gown bloomed

& flowered open into unidentifiable metal

implement entering flesh, to dig a strand

a pulsating rice-sized worm on a platter

the body mined, is a tungsten plug, is not

mine, is a made place of conflict

minerals evacuated of discernible

meaning, the drone monetizes the garden’s

medical history & treasured tomatoes

& ribbons of light when you’re

five years old & the stream of summer

goes on & on, forever, the frogs of pleasure

forever the blackberries, the Lego worm

the bonfire spitting out evening bled

from mechanized walls

from the drone’s motor, the drone skitters

the arboreal gap, the T-shaped

body, the drone whispers code

made by machines made from faraway

human words

/              /              /              /              /              /              /

the drone motors, sees

absorbs flensing silhouettes, magic seeds

for pollen in pollen, for pollen

print heat, print cross-section of body

shocked into present language that

obeys, planetary circle, the body emitting

gas visible in thermal vision, to the drone

which records eye color & space between

eyelashes & the length of the gash from the collar-

bone to the ribs, morphs phenomena into images

into numerical data, into algorithms that deter-

mine probability of full eventual decomposition

to model a viable claim, per the subscription

plan, the bank, the speculative purchase

of ghost kitchen real estate with specters

leaking from windows

/              /              /              /              /              /              /              /

and as the body’s

exterior is absorbed its cosmic fluids

stew & release smells that translate

into musty sound, the body dreams of eating

an ice cream bar in a field in the sun

by the gas station, by the interstate

with spiritual sewage humming

& grass turns forest, reality molds

to spectral scale of moving time

the Rolling Rock bottle half-buried

in dirt, calcifying into sand

or loam, for slag of heaven or crystal heap

the circle dead, but still comes up

as clover, buttercup leaves, reflects

the body, is eaten, by skimmers

on the water, which keeps churning

having by accident, fallen in

HOUSE SHOW ON GREENMOUNT PERMUTATED BY GROUPS OF 4 AND 5 LETTERS ALTERNATING, AND THEN 5 AND 6, AND THEN 6 AND 7, AND SO ON by John Crawford

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AMERICAN METER COMPANY by Caroline McManus

THE RELIQUARY TRANSLATIONS (55-58)THE BRAZEN LIVER OF PIACENZA,THE NAME OF THE GOD OF THE WELL by James Rodker

fingers in your hair like harp strings
Star Anise          and acne 
wishbone split clean     and perfect
tzompantli               (skull rack)
The Anatomy      of the Horse
The boatbuilders,          starting to sing
to each other,     like spinning     sticky     rain
digital     relief     models     of the river valley
and the storm     from the plane 
A long life     held only in place     by brief pauses.
oracle bone script,     island     of white
blossom     and herons,     shifting     grey
silver     white     gold     pink,     knuckles    
blushing,     silver     birch
A life,     in leather jackets,     posing     at Herculaneum

I have seen pine trees,     loved them     & their properties     & their God
since I was a child.

At the Temple     de la Sybille,     in full sun
blood     and Vichy Catalan.
the glass bottom boat, the skylight, and the
sycamore                    (simulated     waves)
The Solar Barge     of Sesostris (1985-1988)
(father     of the blind king     Pheron)
Winter’s     Passage     from the Winter
Palace     in Luxor,          gleaming     in green
patina,    and in white     trembling   columns

on the Pont des Suicidés.
mosaics     of hanging     pig     carcasses
octopus,     tobacco,     and mackerel 
the Jardim     do Príncipe     Real
paused     at the moment     of fragment 
when the sky     would become     the canal

the pink     gridded     mantra page,     pinned 
to the plastered wall

a galaxy     of choreography     on the Bowery,
in Dim Sum Palace,     and the blizzard     outside,
in your bright     blue     mohair     jumper 
showed me     The Ascent     of the Blessed

(from the Visions     of the Hereafter)          A City
Lament     (in the collapsing     present)     of a city
after     Paris
(all cities     are laments     after Paris)
almost touching     embroidered     on black velvet
A Voyage     on the North Sea          (from 1973
-74)                         hearing     distant    rumours
of a war               in the Peloponnese 
marking off     the days     with blades     of grass
(McCarren Park)          or with skeins     of snow
years ago          today               listening     to
Music     from Saharan     WhatsApp
I never thought          you’d be          everything
the shape          of the smoke          in the room 
W 15 th St.          in the dusks     of an argument
intermittently     gasping     for air

The caprification     of fig trees
on the Turkish     Aegean 
(A Thousand Strings)

after the excavation     of thousands     of terracotta vessels
gridded the site     and left     under floodlights 
dappled    under    tamarind     trees

the lip of the bowl     (after Shōji Hamada)
sketched     on graph paper

and the chandelier     swung

the Berenike Buddha, lowered
into folds     of raw linen

October,     cross legged     on the bed     peeling blood oranges
simmering     coconut milk     and curry leaves      
sweet,     in the next room’s     tinsel

the white     Cycladic     marble     birds,     infinite
smoking     honey     for your throat     and warm
Lucozade,     hours     outside     of history

every car alarm     for a square mile,     at least 
every     gold and silver     dolphin.

Go,               and bury          slaughtered          oxen,
bees will spring     from the rotted corpse     of them,
and wasps          from the body          of the horse

and on the banks of the Nile     the ox would be buried upright,
so that the horns     would protrude     from the mud
and sometime after,     when the horns     would be severed
would find hordes     and clustered     swarms of them

the hives          anointed               with nard          and myrrh
or with thyme               or with white          poplar

and the horns,     and the bones,     and the hair,
and nothing else left

when the fleet,     casting anchor     at Rhodes,
threw earthenware pots     in the sea,
and as time     went on,          and mud     formed     around them,
and eleven days after          were hoisted 
and were found     encrusted     with oysters

Others,          having dried fenugreek     in the sun,          lay it in vessels:
(eight ounces     of well-ground     fenugreek)
and they pitch their casks with it,          for must     and for black vinegar,
and they pitch          the seams          of their ships               before leaving 
from Chios,               from Pyrrha     in Lesbos,               from Crete
and from ruin,          and shading their wares from the heat

and would spread          their ideas              like mould
between     creases

 

 

Phoenices by Conor Hultman

Phoenix XIII

tattoo of gemini & roman numeral II on right arm

T shirt
jeans
purple tennis shoes w/ the letter T on the side

Phoenix XXXV

scar on his arm

black jeans
belt
an our lady of guadalupe square leather pendant on a leather necklace

the victim was found deceased in a residence
his girlfriend did not know his real name

Phoenix XLI

white nike tennis shoes
green socks
brown dickeys pants
a black t shirt w/ jesus on it & a gray t shirt w/ the virgin of guadalupe on it
he also had a blue jacket & a baseball cap w/ the logo of the mighty ducks hockey team
a gold colored bracelet w/ the word paz
2 distinctive cigarette lighters

the victim died after he had an altercation while he was paint sniffing

JUNE 2025 Guest Editor Is JOHN TREFRY!!! THEME: INANIMISM

Burning House Press are excited to welcome JOHN TREFRY as the first BHP guest editor of our return series of special editions! As of today JOHN will take over editorship of Burning House Press online for the month of JUNE.

Submissions are open from today – and will remain open until 25TH JUNE.

JOHN’S theme for the month is as follows

—INANIMISM—

Submission Guidelines

All submissions should be sent as attachments to guesteditorbhp@gmail.com

Please state the theme and form of your submission in the subject of the email. For example: INANIMISM/POETRY

Poetry and Fiction

For poetry submissions, submit no more than three of your best poems. Short stories should be limited to 1,500 words or (preferably) less. We encourage flash fiction submissions, no more than three at a time. Send these in as a .doc or .docx file, along with a short third-person bio, and (optional) photograph of yourself.

Art
Submit hi-res images of your works (drawings, paintings, illustrations, collages, photography, etc) with descriptions of the work (Title, Year, Medium, etc) in the body of the email. Files should be in .JPEG unless they are GIFs or videos, and should not exceed 2MB in size for each work. File names should correspond with the work titles. Video submissions can be uploaded onto Youtube or Vimeo for feature on our website. Send these submissions along with a short third-person bio, and (optional) photograph of yourself.

Virtual Reality/ 3D Artworks

For VR Submissions, please submit no more than three (3) individual artworks. For Tilt Brush works, please upload your artwork to Google Poly (https://poly.google.com/), and mark it as ‘public’ (‘remixable’ is at your own preference). A VR/3D artwork can also be submitted as a video export navigating through the artwork. If you prefer this method, please upload your finished video file to YouTube or Vimeo and provide a URL. With either format, please provide a 150 word artist’s statement.

Non-fiction
Non-fiction submissions (essays, reviews, commentary, interviews, etc) should be no more than 1, 500 words and sent as a .doc or .docx file along with your third-person bio/and optional photograph.

Submissions are open until 25th JUNE – and will reopen again on 1st JULY2025/for new theme/new editor/s.

BHP online is now in the capable hands of the amazing JOHN TREFRY – friends, arsonistas, send our JUNE 2025 guest editor your magic!

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. 

Continue reading “Womannotated – Big Teeth”

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.

Continue reading “Womannotated – Macabre Burlesque”

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— 

Continue reading “Womannotated – Dead Sea”

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”

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”

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”

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”

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”

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”

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; 

Continue reading “Summoning by Laurie Koensgen”

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.

Continue reading “Fear Thyself by Stephen Embleton”

Kids

I became a widow at the tender age of nine.

Continue reading “Kids”

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.
Continue reading “A tale of three descendants”

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