Flapper Press continues to feature original poetry from our writers and readers. We encourage you to write poetry and submit it to the site. We'll publish it next month! Start writing!
Submit your work to info@flapperpress.com
I'm Running in the Desert
It’s hard to get free.
They build our prisons
From the inside now.
I’m running at sunset
The sky is supreme
Clouds like islands of light
I pass a group of boys,
No older than twelve,
In knit beanies, looking tough.
Faces harder than they should be.
I could taste their darkness.
I run faster.
The sprinklers water the sidewalk
But the grasses are dry
I cross the street deliberately slow,
Playing chicken with a black
Landrover.
Running home now,
My back to the horizon,
The city a slow purple swirling
Calling forth the night.
I imagine my ancestors
Trailing behind me
And to them I pray:
Please help my dog get better.
Take care of my husband
And soften his grief.
Make of me
A man that can withstand
All this radiant suffering
Without trying to adjust my stride.
Make of me
A warrior of vulnerability.
The city is dark now.
The air still warm and
My skin foretells another brutal
Summer.
Will anyone survive the future?
Or was that never the point?
The glaciers had a god, so did we.
And all of us are melting.
This is a beautiful life now
Right now
Amidst the brokenness and
Looming terror.
If you look hard enough
There is still more than enough
Beauty
To sustain us all.
—Brandon Alter
Summer
Pink tinted, Street being
Look listen, night creeping
Summer corner of overcast haven
On the thirteenth we run by day breaking
One warmer breeze whispered
Let him play games of war
On the summer corner pour hues
This is the last day we count in Summer
Over the horizon
You can hear them calling,
Saying Summers here shortly
Oh cul de sac of orange hue
Suburban bubble popped by me and you
—Rachel Holman
Overjoyed
Childish at worst
Childlike at best
What I said at first
Still stands
Now that I contemplate
I would moderate
But the core of the matter
Of my childish chatter
Remains
Overjoyed
— Gerda Strobl
If you have original poetry or short stories, please submit to Flapper Press for us to publish in the coming months! info@flapperpress.com
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