Assembled by Ryan P. Kinney
From works by Lennart Lundh, Elise Panehal, Tanya Pilumeli, Jason Blakely, Bronte Billings, Matt Young, Megan Hively
Additional content from Saga of the Swamp Thing vol. 1, “People who Died” by The Jim Carroll band, Linkin Park “Powerless”
Additional original content by Ryan P. Kinney

Dig the small grave
and place the smaller body so,
just so. The chill May rain
and the warm human tears
falling on her head
will serve for the ritual
washing of this pup,
barely two days old.

The fly says, “I can see that I have alarmed you. Please… Feel free to scream. There is no one to hear, and I shall still be here the you are finished.”
“I kissed it. It’s clean.”
“(Most) the people who died were all my friends”
We kinda stopped talking before we started talking.
says aloud, what he has been speaking in silence.
How fake they wish this could be
live inside, where everything that is small and screaming
There's blood on my hands... and I can't wait for this to be fixed so I can wash my hands of all this.
You woke the devil I thought you left behind.
So I cozy myself to a liar and a thief, because I want absolutely nothing to do with me.

Your telling me if I’m dead or not.
Atleast act like it matters

Assembled by Ryan P. Kinney
From quotes taken from works at poetry readings by Ray Lesser, Rosemarie Iwasa, Tom Hyland, Terry Provost, Ray Gihani, Tanya Pilumeli, Micheal Billings, Adam Brodsky, Ray McNiece

The children graduate in spring with slightly soiled diplomas
They think democracy is the ability to change the channel on your TV
The long line for the short attention span
We do not know how to differentiate between self and not self
Or are they afraid themselves or their kids will set themselves free
if you were not already dead you could live to 300, but only if you were born yesterday
If you want to lie with death, I'll sell you her coffin
no ashes, just bloated hypocrisy
The only way to heal is poverty
Ashes and **** cloth work
This generation will not pass unscathed

Assembled by Ryan P. Kinney
From works by Russ Vidrick, Connie Kopko Kramer, MaxWell Shell, Lennart Lundh
Additional content from Saga of the Swamp Thing vol. 1

At dawn
It is more interesting
The sparrows sing

That cloud looks like the starship Enterprise: a vessel of hope and discovery; a vapor. This sweet potato destined for the curry’s a carp: Japanese-lucky, walleye-man’s curse. And the cross-cut carrot? It ain’t an iris, a hint about eye-health. Friends, it’s just fun: not science, not God. Also, it’s dinner.

A fountain of youthful talent chemically imbalanced.
...with a grey skull full of He-man.

The road behind them curls
like a river taking the easy way,
not really caring where it goes
as long as it's someplace else.

The sky’s aflame. He skulks back to his mud, his ferns and stones. It is unease he feels, without a name, or merely autumn gnawing at his bones. The things of shadows vanish with the night. Worse horrors still are (may be) heralded by light.

Assembled by Ryan P. Kinney
From works by Gabriella Ercolani, Dr. Benjamin Anthony, Heather Munn, Vicki Acquah, Tanya Pilumeli
Additional original content by Ryan P. Kinney

Bewildered is the conscience of a dancer
whose unified self wishes to remain true
to a lover,
to family,
a social circle.
Yet a facet of the face must make love
to the masses;
each hungry audience that idolizes the mask,
she slowly exposes.

Then he saw the little movements where her belly was and now were taut muscles barely holding back guts and little faces with eyes shut snakes tiny tongues clicking, tails wrapping around

Atlantic waves
Soothing
Tsunami crashes; my mental health strews memory about like road sand.

A child asks for two dollars
To help me from his heart-
My maintenance software
Opens to error messages-
"Man pushes glasses up
On his nose-incidentally";

Resistance subdued
Take her then
Junk in the corner
She's worthless to me

This is no kindness in this man.
He is gluttony incarnate.
Consumption just to flaunt his aristocracy to the peasant.

You enter the world empty-handed and you will leave it empty-handed.

Assembled by Eli Williams
From quotes taken from works at poetry readings by Vladimir Swirynsky, Bob Olsen, Ray McNiece, Kathleen Gallagher, Joe Roarty, Eva Barrett, Russ Vidrick, Tam Polzer, Rosemarie Iwasa, Dianne Boresnik
Additional original content by Ryan P Kinney

I watched you undress like a stranger lost in a great city of hope
The problem of loving the same woman in different ways
And still love once more
This is my word in any language
So I cozy myself up to a murderer
So I can taste the infernal darkness
Too much white space, unpunctuated
No place for the demon to go, but further in
I'm a monster, I admit it
God not only loves a sinner, he prefers them
How long will I be playing to get by
Is it worse to be the one taken or the one left behind
Nothing is ever born again here

Assembled by Eli Williams
From works by Eli Williams, Josh Romig, Lennart Lundh
Additional content from “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” by The Smiths

Want to see life
Take me out tonight
For a moment
Take me anywhere, I don’t care
I can’t seem to make
My heartbeat slow down
If time is liquid, like the oceans
Take me out tonight
Not much traffic on this path anymore
In my rearview mirror
And in the darkened underpass
I watch the boy
No longer even special
If I could go where they’re going
Where there’s music and there’s people
I don’t care, I don’t care
Take me out tonight
Take me anywhere, I don’t care

Assembled by Ryan P. Kinney
From quotes taken from works at poetry readings by Bronte Billings, Josh Romig, Micheal Billings, Jack McGuane, Elise Panehal, Rosemarie Iwasa, Adam Brodsky
Additional original content by Ryan P. Kinney

Being broken makes the girl do something good
She loves the challenge of impossible tasks
Detachment comes easier to a drunk
The lostness of the found, the blindness of the seeing, the spirituality of the atheist, the silence of the spoken
She doesn't matter
Nothing she creates matters
Nothing matters
The nothing is electric…
You are caterpillar now
One day you will be a beautiful butterfly
Her stark lines are completely naked now
Humans are also stardust
Which means we are golden