Gnashing Teeth Publishing

| words that get in your teeth

hot july night by eric short

In your bed, pretending to sleep, secretly
counting fan blades like flower petals, wondering
He loves me, He loves me not, He loves me.
Thank god there are five.

 

And, thankfully
my snoring offers more white noise
than the whirr of the ceiling fan, because

 

laying in my bed, unable to fall asleep
without a ceiling fan of my own,
I forget how many petals your daisy has.
My brain spins faster than the blades when

 

I accidentally turned the fan too high.
He loves me not. He loves me not.
He loves me not!
But, you only notice a fan as strong as

 

the dust amassed its blades,
clinging tightly, suffocating.
No air left to circulate.

 

I noticed the fan in that July heat,
on my knees, seeking God’s direction
as the fireworks exploded on my
oohs and aahs. And now I remember

 

replacing our fan with a window unit.

Eric Short teaches public speaking to college students and is just beginning his voyage into the world of poetry. He lives with his husband and two cats in the Twin Cities where he enjoys cooking, gardening and overthinking.

Goodnight, Taj Mahal by Andre Peltier

Deep below earth, clay and sand, deep below roots and aquifers, it lies in wait. Like that silent coyote stalking her white-tailed deer through the brush, it waits patiently and

contain by Megan Cartwright

verb past tense: contained; past participle: contained 1. have or hold (someone or something) within. Similar: hold carry To have and to hold in our own microcosm, constructed of hope.

Listening to Words by Mona Mehas

Listening to words out of touch cross lily pads, one to the next my rules, a tiny picture frame debt of honor, repay the gift. Headlights illuminate the path listening

Blooming by Elizabeth Gade

Some days are easy and some days are exhausting the days you have to dig through the muck inside take more hits than a heavyweight prize fighter cling to life

Pomegranate Rose by Laura Peña

I want to feed this delicacy To my concubine A tiny spoonful at a time I want to watch the luscious sorbet Linger on the tip of her tongue Melt

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