Local Lit
Seven-Arm Octopus Love
Seven-Arm Octopus Love The Seven-Arm Octopus or Haliphron atlanticus is one of the world’s largest species of octopus. This mysterious giant of the deep possesses a hidden eighth arm. It only becomes visible when the octopus finds a suitable mate. The eighth arm uncoils from under the right eye and reaches out for the... More
Horizon Blues
Tonight I’ll try; I’ll board the ship Concrete feet I cannot lift Look at me from across the blues You I speak, it’s you I lose My ores are heavy, oh they weigh Though my heart is anchored by this land’s bay Oh lady, they say distance can be leaped But cures are scarce... More
Anima Libra – Part III
The website bothered the hell out of me, not just due to the content, but something felt off about the pictures themselves. They looked way too perfect, almost manufactured. The facial expressions don’t seem to vary that much, leading me to believe that whoever had put them up had doctored them. James has a background... More
Riot Guuurrll
Riooott Guurrl When the line-up for Riot Fest Toronto 2014 was released back in the spring I died. I dropped dead on the spot. The Cure… ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THE NATIONAL?! SALIVATING. Fellow punk rockers at heart, it did not disappoint. Ok, the MUSIC did not disappoint. Riot Fest organization? The worst. I won’t... More
Good Lord
Made ever in the image of the divine indeed? Made ever in the image of God? Good lord what do these underlings concede; humanity’s personally created fraud? Indeed the divinity is of human hands made and of mortal blessing immortally blessed, but from feignéd power to peasant bower, blind faith takes care of all the... More
Club Rules
A Flannel shirt revolution politely asks the sun to shine. The Moon drowns in the ocean of consensus, So this discord is a tsunami of independence. Directionless antagonism is still meaningful. Unrepentant corporate art in your contrarian club, Unnamed ads on untamed sidewalls aren’t witty. All summer we stare at the graffiti; Life... More
MAUD GONNE
“Because you make beautiful poetry out of what you call your Unhappiness and are” They say blue eyes aren’t really blue. They say the color scatters like Blind atoms of the sky. L’appel du vide. I wonder if Rimbaud caught rainbows on his tongue And swallowed them: raw, whole. When we line up like... More
Anima Libera – Part II
I do my best to open the front door with a degree of stealth, not wishing to disturb my ersatz landlord from his daily routine of playing online games against pre-teens. He’s had a bit of a troubled life, James. Up until four years ago, he had been a graphic designer for an entertainment... More
The atavist
I lived once in a room that was in a house that was in a snow globe my little schneekugel— Each pale pink shutter glistened with sunrise each window held a candle that didn’t burn— cheer was a 24 hour thing everything always new and no dust settles under saline water— a dirt... More
The Century Tree
They say that home isn’t a place – home is people. And perhaps they’re right, at that. Few places seem homey without the benediction of familiar faces and voices. But then there are places with a special kind of resonance – places that just feel right, that answer back when you speak to them.... More
Gangsterland
I’m crashing my way through six blocks of coral reef to your heart. When I speak of heart I am not referring to the paper red cut-outs that we pasted macaroni to in grade three. When I speak of heart I am referring to the gross red-blue-black pound of muscle on the left of... More
Worlds Apart: Tales from the Land of Aden
During the storied reign of Abbasid Caliph Jafar Al-Mutawakkil, AD 850 in the Christian calendar, there lived in the bustling port town of Aden a family of poor fishermen. Malik caught fish by longboat; his eldest son, Suleiman, dried and salted the catfish, turbot, and mackerel with bare hands on the wharf, while Said prepared... More
Some Philosophy
what is life, what is love, I’ve turned off the lights in my mind, and for what cost? To submit my self in truth, and lie upon my suffering.. as if it were nothing more than a pillow, or an honest lover.. God “I shall know only as much as the body will allow” and... More
Anima Libra – Part I
“Oh…oh, God…” she gasped, her breath hitting sweet against the growing beads of sweat against my neck, sending shivers along my bloodied back as her nails dig into my skin in a desperate attempt to hold onto the moment. My fingers knead her shoulder and thigh as she wraps her endless legs about my... More
Savage Novel
Dear Hollyweird, you have taken the ‘Indian’ out of Tonto and made him into a white man. clearly, you know God is a red man fighting for justice with a bow and arrow. I have no comfort in your lies. I am the truth, the naked truth of fear. Oh yes, Fear of a Red... More
Men of the Earth – Part IV
“Where the hell are they,” Hogarth growled. He was referring to the conspicuous absence of Amadeus and Lee, on that day of all days. It could’ve also been the heat getting to him. It was a scorcher and everyone was feeling the effects. But I and everyone else knew it was more. That... More
The Fever
After she left me, I was in a fever. I wanted chaos. I wanted never ending darkness. I tore down the curtains, clawed at the wall paper and I screamed, inhuman sounds that ripped from deep inside me. My thoughts came scattered and too loud, in a language I could barely understand. The tears... More