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(after Henry Darger’s collection, as told by Olivia Laing) amazing howbits of stringconnect the daysdarn up the weak spotsentertain the eyeflower in a dark roomgutter rescuedhandled carefullyimagine being threaded through a cityjust as you were falling apartknots to puzzle over at nightlines crossing lines, patterningmyriad layers appearing asnesting material forContinue Reading

On:

My muses have amusing waysof teasing me on silent daysby giving me no words to writeuntil I try to sleep at nightthen hide the notepad I keep nearand dry my pen so that no tearof ink will cry upon the page,thus leaving me a nightmare’s ragewhich twists my dreams inContinue Reading

On:

The dark nightstreams filaments of her indigo curlsacross the frosty sky.Embellished with stars,loosened locks showerthe late evening with tiny interwoven knotsthreading the curved dome tightly together. The translucent plaits seem to shiverin the crisp air. I walk home not minding my path— look up– watch,waitfor one to unravel or toContinue Reading

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Z.B. Wagman is an editor for the Deep Overstock Literary Journal and a co-host of the Deep Overstock Fiction podcast. When not writing or editing he can be found behind the desk at the Beaverton City Library, where he finds much inspiration.Continue Reading

On:

I am tying myself into knots. I undo them and redo them. I am myself knots. I undo and redo. I am knots. I undo them. I knot myself. Undo and redo. I am tying knots into myself. I redo and undo and undo and redo. I am myself, tyingContinue Reading

On:

(with a nod to Rumi)The you I once knew is tied up in a basement. It’s dark and cold and isolated from view. When I illuminate your body, with a candle’s flicker, and the knots that bind you to that sturdy wooden chair, I can’t let myself stay too long.ThisContinue Reading

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When Lucian, not yet three, puts his hand in mine.I feel such joy–this boyknots his lifeline to minein a faiththat he can lead me to where ever he wants to go,and I in the same perfect grandma faith,take him there. Lynette G. Esposito, MA Rutgers, has been published in PoetryContinue Reading

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The heavy nightopened her womband the earth was born–a beautiful baby blue and greenheld together withdelicate knots woofedon an invisible loom–swaddling a new star in the universe. Lynette G. Esposito, MA Rutgers, has been published in Poetry Quarterly, North of Oxford, Twin Decades, Remembered Arts, Reader’s Digest, US1, and others.Continue Reading

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They stood before the priest and knottedthemselves together with a vowuntil death do us part.And yet, what if the knotstays tight and death isjust an illusionof escape? Lynette G. Esposito, MA Rutgers, has been published in Poetry Quarterly, North of Oxford, Twin Decades, Remembered Arts, Reader’s Digest, US1, and others.Continue Reading

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not that I clove to youlike a ghostly sheet, love rolled my tongue into an Oor another self, taut as a clothesline, some caricature bent to my likenessor some trucker’s star hitched half to the wind, half to the littlepill slipped under their tongues I’ve worked at Water Street BooksContinue Reading