The microwave is beeping in time to the pulse in my head.
My fingernails are splitting, one by one, leaving ragged points
that scratch my numbed face.
I wander from room to room feeling like this house
is a stranger that’s abducted me.
I go days without washing my face or brushing my hair
and I blame the moon. It’s too bright, it’s too big, Continue reading “1. Suddenly Blind, and 2. The Last Earthly Gift – Charlotte Hamrick”
I devise a plan:
I will take you
to places you’ve never seen.
I book my ticket
and we’re off:
jetting across the globe,
the adventure of a lifetime.
We go to New York, Libya, Malaysia,
and now here I am in Italy,
your rounded body Continue reading “1. In the Dark, and 2. Embracing Vulnerability – David Hanlon”
what is love if not
catching irrepressible canyons
in calloused hands
breathing homespun winds
into dessicated
labium-gullies
what is love if not
defining impossibility Continue reading “Empyrean Swings – Ashley Bullen-Cutting”
When I was 12 I found a prayer book at a jumble sale
and bought it for the grand sum of 25p.
It had daffodils on the front – a cheery bunch of yellow flowers
and I remember thinking, yellow flowers can only be good
they always make people happy.
And I didn’t feel happy, not very often, not even at the age
of bike rides and cupcakes and sleepovers, Continue reading “Prayer Book – Victoria Richards”
A 15-year abacus, a rosary of flint faces,
and an inverted road.
St. Jonah, personal patron, pray for me.
You brother of cowards and fugitives,
welldigger who struck a bedrock
of scorpions every time.
I too have encountered
a rising tide of what could be water,
if it wasn’t paralyzing me from the feet up. Continue reading “1. Via Negativa, and 2. The Creation Of Man – Tolu Oloruntoba”
Whoever wanders the stratus glow
chased into niche or crevice
ascends the archives
A dervish’s shivers scan the heavens
A dervish’s scarves and sashes
canvass heaven’s veranda, invade screeds
for ice caverns, car crashes, narcs’ scars, Continue reading “Whoever Wanders The Stratus Glow – Mark Grenon”
We bow our heads before dinner.
He prays; I recite the German
with a hushed voice—
not out of reverence,
but to soften the inevitable slips
from my English-led tongue.
*
When five sat at this table
we held our hands
in front of us Continue reading “So Be It, Amen – Lucas Wildner”
Responding to bubble threat.
Vehicle loaded.
Strapped beneath plates.
Moving out.
Location verification required.
East on… static zzzzzzzz
Repeat. Command. Repeat. zzzzzzzzz
East on… static zzz
Cavalry to command: Continue reading “Divine Intervention – Elancharan Gunasekaran”
Needles are helpful
In identifying can#$@
As well evilicious
Thoughts I have
Like my husband
Doesn’t love me
He won’t have my baby
Like God is temporary
When I need him Continue reading “One More Lamb, No! This Is The Way It Starts, and Baptism Gone Awry – Elisabeth Horan”
Sister sings contrition, ripe to believe
in prophet palms, fey fingers. Submission
to a Patriarch plunge— yield and receive.
White out winter, naked lips and eyes. Leave
past sorrows traded for superstition.
Sister sings contrition, ripe to believe. Continue reading “The Baptism – Juliette van der Molen”
Again, the man in the window
wakes from a dream of June bugs:
fragile with heat, they’d thrown
their bodies into trees and split
like skulls. The man said he was
hungry. The sisters still arrive
some evenings with their Bibles
and a roll of toilet paper. Continue reading “Purgatorio, East Peoria – Todd Smith”
Earth on the Ocean’s Back
Rain mists the poppy pins
of passersby outside. In a café,
standing couples rehash the cenotaph
service. Cognoscenti critique beans
and brewing machines while
espresso makers hiss. I remember
Mary Battle used to say dreams were false
from spring until saps fell, says an Irish voice
nearby. Continue reading “Earth On The Ocean’s Back, and Age Of Prophesy – Daniel Cowper”
Burning House Press are excited to welcome JAISHA JENSENA as our DECEMBER guest editor! As of today Jaisha will take over editorship of Burning House Press online for the full month of December.
Submissions for Jaisha are open from today – 1st December and will remain open until 24th December.
Jaisha’s Theme for the month is as follows
Continue reading “DECEMBER 2018 Guest Editor Is JAISHA JANSENA!!! Theme: DOORS”
Burning House Press are excited to welcome PAUL HAWKINS as our NOVEMBER guest editor! As of today Paul will take over editorship of Burning House Press online for the full month of November.
Submissions for Paul are open from today – 1st November and will remain open until 23rd November.
Paul’s Theme for the month is as follows
Paul has introduced his theme for your guidance:
Facing up to the future
Please submit work of a future-facing, avant-garde nature that is singly or a combination of form(s): poetry, prose, visual artworks, collage, sound, photography, musical scores, architectural design, forms, maps, film, sketches, plans, short stories in which context dominates content.
for e.g.
the poetry of: space-junk, fake news, black ops, artificial intelligence,
the visual taste of global-warming, #metoo, rising-tides
the musical scent of Brexit, Trump, The Cloud
the sound map of: gentrification, water-shortage, anarchism
ENCOURAGED: work that is collaborative, radical, experimental, intersectional, across form(s) & across discipline(s).
Continue reading “NOVEMBER 2018 Guest Editor Is PAUL HAWKINS!!! Theme: FACING UP TO THE FUTURE”
Burning House Press are excited to welcome SHE SPEAKS UK as our October guest editors!!! As of today She Speaks will take over editorship of Burning House Press online for the full month of October.
Submissions for She Speaks are open from today – 1st October and will remain open until 24th.
She Speaks Theme/s for the month are as follows
She Speaks have introduced their theme/s for your guidance:
Gender & Revolution
“If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.”
Audre Lorde
“No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution… Revolution is but thought carried into action.”
Emma Goldman (Writer and Anarchist)
What does gender look like to you? If gender is a construct, how would you deconstruct it? If you could re-write or reframe gender norms, would you? What would your world look like? What changes, if any, would you like to see?
What does revolution look like? Why is it important and what changes are needed?
We want you to use words or images to investigate gender, revolution, or both. You could draw on personal experiences, historical / her-storical narratives, imagined environments or cultural commentary. We welcome voices that represent different worldviews, beliefs and geographical locations.
We want art that breaks rules; that challenges patriarchy; that expresses personal struggle; that exposes the impact of cultural norms. Don’t be afraid to break out of your comfort zone and push the boundaries.
We can’t wait to see your submissions.
Love,
She Speaks
x
Continue reading “October 2018 Guest Editor/s are SHE SPEAKS UK!!! Theme/s: GENDER & REVOLUTION”
What a month! Burning House Press would like to thank September’s Guest Editor RACHAEL DE MORAVIA for selecting, curating and presenting an INCREDIBLE array of writing and art on the theme/s BELONGING//RETURNING//RETREATING – and for all of the endeavour and hard work that has gone into managing the high volume of contributions received over the month – and the wonderful way Rachael has engaged with, and encouraged, submitters to BHP – THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, RACHAEL!!!
Massive thank you also goes to everyone who contributed to Rachael’s theme/s and all who continue to send BHP your writing and art – we are so happy and grateful that you entrust us with your work, thank you!!! xX
Here it is, the BELONGING//RETURNING//RETREATING EDITION – every selection in one place for you to read/peruse – enjoy!!! xX
Burning House Press are excited to welcome RACHAEL DE MORAVIA as our eighth guest editor! As of today Rachael will take over editorship of Burning House Press online for the full month of September.
Submissions for Rachael are open from today – 1st September and will remain open until 23rd September.
Rachael’s Theme/s for the month are as follows
Burning House Press would like to thank August’s Guest Editor John Trefry for selecting a fantastic theme in // NON-NONFICTION // – and for all of the endeavour and hard work that has gone into selecting/curating/presenting the contributions received over the month – THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, JOHN!!!
Massive thank you also goes to everyone who contributed to John’s theme and who continues to send BHP your writing and art – we are so happy and grateful that you entrust us with your work, thank you!!! xX
Here it is, the NON-NONFICTION edition – every selection in one place for you to read/peruse – enjoy!!! xX
Reading Liber Exuvia by Elytron Frass is to enter the murmuring memoirs of an astral traveller. Is to encounter the self as it is – not as fixed point or outpost in temporal time but self as vaporous, porous and atemporal – self as ghost haunting the flesh, spectre sojourning the house of mist. Self as fracture, fact amassed and massacred, exploding and imploding in all directions, past present future for infinity. Everywhere and everyone and everywhen. Continue reading “Liber Exuvia – Elytron Frass – gnOme books”
BURNING HOUSE PRESS 