The Literary Whip

In Disturbed Areas, I Grow Like a Weed My grandmother and I sought them out:flowers that exploded into a universe ofpurple starscircling apurple center.We never learned their name.We simply plucked them from the cracksin the sidewalk and carried them with us. I found them again,thirty years later with my daughter.Our world was about to split … Read More

Today, Lise and Kevin explore “The Union” by Sky O’Brien, submitted to Zoetic Press for NonBinary Review #19: Dante’s Inferno The Union EP. XXIX 10/24/18 ACT TWO FADE IN: INT. NBC STUDIO – DAY / NIGHT HOST is standing in front of THE AUDIENCE, looking into camera, recovering from a joke. He beams, … Read More

Today, Lise and Kevin explore “Into the Inferno” by Jordan Fash, submitted to Zoetic Press for NonBinary Review #19: Dante’s Inferno. “What is Dante’s Inferno?” Dan asked. “Come on,” Gabe replied. “The fact that you’d even ask me that is insulting.” The two boys stopped at the crosswalk; several cars zoomed between them and the … Read More

Today, Lise and Kevin explore “Ghosts” by Dan Forkapa, submitted to Zoetic Press for NonBinary Review #19: Dante’s Inferno. “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in heaven.” The tolling of church bells shakes me from my evening slumber. I wipe the sleep from my eyes and throw open the curtains, squinting out into the … Read More

Today, Lise and special guest David Walker talk about three poems, “High Desert New Mexico,” “She Is Everywhere,” and “Jetlag,” submitted to The Golden Walkman. High Desert New Mexico The White Place claims its samesplendor, chalk and rocks rising sky high.Cathedral pillars finger down the red canyonwhere ancient water cannot return. Thin rounded peaks reachto … Read More

Today, Lise and Kolleen explore “Friar Alberigo’s Bad Fruit” by Julie Simon, submitted to Zoetic Press for NonBinary Review #19: Dante’s Inferno. I felt the blow across my face and I could scarce believe what had but just occurred. My brother turned and stormed away, his hand still clear upon my cheek. Within a day … Read More

Today, Lise and Kevin are doing something a little different – below is the original short version submitted to Zoetic Press for NonBinary Review #12, The works of Edgar Allan Poe. Following that is a longer, erotic version that was published in her collection Unfettered. We’ll be heading back to high school to do a … Read More

Today, Lise and Kolleen explore “Canto III The Opportunists” by Linda Johnson, submitted to Zoetic Press for NonBinary Review #19 Dante’s Inferno. I AM BUT ONE WAY TO THE CITY OF SUFFERING, I AM A WAY TO ETERNAL PAIN, THROUGH ETERNAL FAME, I AM THE WAY FOR A SELF-CENTERED PEOPLE. SKEWED INTENTIONS MOVED MY ARCHITECT. … Read More

Today, Lise and Kolleen Carney Hoepfner explore “Under the Influence of the Internet” by Eric Forsbergh, submitted to Zoetic Press for Issue #19 of NonBinary Review. Calf deep through roiling surf I wade. Elsewhere, fixated millions plash in electron’s froth as well. Opaque foam bursts against my legs, pippling away as evanescent lace. I reach out … Read More

Today, Lise and Kevin explore “Three Parts” by Simona Zaretsky, submitted to Zoetic Press for NonBinary Review #19: Dante’s Inferno. The bone bowl cradled the melted flesh like jazz music in autumn heat. The air hummed like California rain. The stars perched on the horizon. The sun rose like a question. He watched the moon … Read More

Today, Lise and Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner explore “Turkish Fruit” by Jennifer Tonge, submitted to Zoetic Press for its Viable chapbook series. Apple Endlessly you hang among our minds’ boughs, light-limned; your skins glow golden, blushed, and red. Magic you promise, wisdom, riches, health; all those things after which we reach and reach. Apricot Keep to yourself … Read More

Today, Lise and Kevin explore “Reynold’s Tale” by Adrian Ludens, submitted to NonBinary Review Issue #12: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. It has been written that there are secrets which should never be shared. I am in partial agreement with this assessment. Men and women die daily and nightly, guilt gnawing away at their … Read More

Today, Lise and Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner explore “Land Animal” by Daniela Buccilli, submitted to Zoetic Press for its Viable chapbook series. Eco-suicide Doctors prescribed eight ounces a day. We had so much water. The sleepy centipede drank drips from the basement laundry tub. I showered daily under a shower head of brontosaurus grace. Water gave us … Read More

Today, Lise and Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner explore “Absurd” by Caleb Alexander, submitted to Zoetic Press for the Viable chapbook series. Yodeling Yogi “What are your intentions today?” She asks and pauses for 5 seconds, like that’s enough time, or that there is enough time. What are my intentions today? I intend to become immortal, so that … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Kevin Sharp explore “The Strange Foresight of Madame Le Fèy” by Marta Tanrikulu, submitted to NonBinary Review #12: The Works of Edgar Allan Poe. “Madame La Feè, Psychic,” the sign proclaimed to French Quarter tourists and locals alike. “Specializing in Tarot, Palmistry, Horoscopes and Voodoo.” Potted ferns hung in profusion from … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Kevin Sharp explore three pieces submitted for NonBinary Review Issue #17, A Wrinkle in Time: “Time Wrinkle” by Amanda Rodriguez, “Wrinkles” by America DeGraw, and “Other Mother” by Gita Ralleigh. Time Wrinkle by Amanda Rodriguez When I think of A Wrinkle in Time, it summons up my father’s voice. His precise cadence, his … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Kolleen Hoepfner explore “nervous habits” by Cara Neel, submitted to Zoetic Press for its Viable chapbook series. I’ll be fine I call a friend I haven’t seen in a while and she asks me if the pills are working. I tell her I’m not happier but I think I am less … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Kolleen Hoepfner explore “Alice Great and Small” by Tom Crosbie, submitted to Zoetic Press for its Viable chapbook series. A Short Dialogue Between Alice and Her Rimpoche Rimpoche: flesh is the death magnet in car-magnetic flesh in cherry blossom time in cross-the-median time central reserve [ENTER ALICE] Alice: apologies I arrived … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner explore “Persephone Suite” by Karen Henry, submitted to Zoetic Press for the Viable chapbook series. Persephone’s Report For days before I had sad dreams of lost friends betraying me. That day I went out to win. One flower led to another fragrance of narcisus led me on. I turned … Read More

Today, Lise Quintana and Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner explore “Where Girls Go,” by Catherine Chen, submitted to Zoetic Press for the Viable chapbook series. i. At the airport I begin reading Carnival and Cannibal and almost immediately my body shuts down. How do you describe a cringe in reaction to the punchline of a joke that has … Read More