Gnashing Teeth Publishing

| words that get in your teeth

The Invention of Bullets – Hannah Rousselot

The Invention of Bullets

Before:

one death at a time,
slow. killer watches
choked gurgles +
wonders what is severed
within- the soul or the
body? tomorrow-
or is it now?-
blood leaves the killer’s heart
dull, lacking oxygen.

During:

another one, nearby.
i startle when the classroom
door opens, transforming my B into
a hybrid, non existent letter. i keep
a baseball bat behind my desk
and memorize which crawl spaces
fit the most preschoolers.

After:

I cannot imagine such a thing,
not with blood splattered
cereal boxes. I cannot imagine
such a thing, not with more bullets
than ants. I cannot imagine such
a thing, not even within the boundless
capacity of a poem.

Bio – Hannah Rousselot (she/her) is a queer French-American poet and author. Her poetry has appeared in Parentheses Magazine, Kissing Dynamite, The McNeese Review, and The Blue Nib and others. She has published the poery collections Fragments of You (Kelsay Press) and Ocean Currents (Finishing Line Press). She is the winner of the Gateway Review Flash Fiction Prize. She also reviews other poet’s works on hannahrousselot.com and is the host of the podcast Poetry Aloud. You can follow her work on facebook.com/hmrpoetry or @hannahrousselot, or hannahrousselot.com.

BOOK REVIEW: Gusher by Christopher Stephen Soden

Gusher, the recent Queer Mojo release from Christopher Stephen Soden, takes his first publication (Closer) and fine tunes it. Soden writes, “For this one moment / your connection is enough

BOOK REVIEW: Refugee by Pamela Uschuk

Pamela Uschuk’s 2022 release, Refugee, stands at an angle in the line of poetry collections. Hers is a unique perspective which weaves potent emotions and experiences into the fabric of

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

connect

we love hearing from you. tell us everything