JACOB SEFERIAN

Such Lookers! Such Thinkers!

In the image of a self-checkout
camera I figure intense beauty
must feel like a prison, but me
I am from a lineage of men who
get fatter as they age: No fear!

Doc, I have this spiritual exhaustion
got all the WebMD symptoms like
uninventive lovers and Applebee’s
plus my heels have calluses that
never heal and turn cirrhosis yellow

which is why I was at CVS catching
my reflection while I steal foot masks
see, Doc, I am clearly sick. I’ll take
Klonies or maybe a few Oxy, politics
aside, a kiss won’t do it. I want to be

bold like this old guy I slept with once
awakened by his roommate shouting
for rent, then my lover pissed blood
which I insisted on seeing for myself
and, oh yes, the stream was bright red.

Jacob Seferian is a writer in NYC. His work has appeared in several magazines, online and in print. 

OLIVIA BRALEY

THE INTERNET IS FOR GIRLS

in the future all the pretty girls are holograms
another word for beautiful is untouchable

the perfect body is five foot seven and weightless
only real enough to be looked at

Olivia Braley is a DC-based writer, author and activist. She is the author of the chapbook SOFTENING (ELJ Editions) and co-founder of Stone of Madness Press. Read more of her work and reach out to her through her website, oliviabraleywrites.com, or on Instagram @o_t_b.

ALEXANDRA NAUGHTON

WHISPER CAMPAIGN

I eat dreams
breathe modernity
light knuckles to corvus eyes
drama shit

gossip activates a network
such a variance in reconditioning
swinging from synapse to synopsis
cover undering

Nagel did Playboy
before getting plastered at dry cleaners

I drain heavy
gang stalk morbidity

big poetry has yet to bloom
fish bones tinkle in the breeze

LAND OF CONFUSION (AFTER GENESIS)

I don’t want to go out
I want to watch television

I want to be desired
but I’d rather rewatch Dexter

I keep passing out during Grey’s Anatomy
escape trumps escapism but it’s abridged edging

rest curdles in odd froth stewing screams
oversewn eyes slinking forced seductions

nebulous forms unsate my dreams
thornier than reality’s brainrot premium

in sooth everyone else is cooler on the Internet
apply a heavy slathering of cringe and pray

flirt back what’s your at having fun carefree
the viewer clicks away jaundiced so chalant

too many men too many problems
we live in the hands we’re given

every media outlet is embarrassing in 2024
graveyard shifts at the imperialist fellating factory

this was a hard watch loved it thanks
you're going in the manifesto with AI mewing

Alexandra Naughton is a writer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Be About It Press, established in 2010. She is the author of a place a feeling something he said to you a memoir novel told in second person, and poetry collections such as You Could Never Objectify Me More Than I've Already Objectified Myself, I Will Always Be In Love, I Wish You Never Emailed Me and many more. Her first novel, American Mary, won the 2015 Mainline contest and was published in 2016.