Ink Node

Brian Christian, "Ink Node, 2009–2021"

2021-10-03T10:34:34-07:00

Ink Node was conceived in Seattle in 2008 by Brian Christian and Evan Nagle, who imagined a different model for what a literary publication could be and how it could operate. The site design was provided by Michael Langan and built by Brian Christian, and Ink Node officially...

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Jonas Kyle-Sidell, "I Hope it's not Too Late"

2021-05-01T06:16:33-07:00

For the trees,

for the kids,

for the liver,

for the bees,

the entrenched powers,

for the river. . .

they remind us

what it's like

to throw a ball

in the air -

as inequality

spins

like a figure skater

on the evening news.

For the possible politician

to give us

one more

watery gem

before a prostrate

congress, as global catastrophe

looms. As capitalism

coagulates,

like oil in a petri...

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Becca Yenser, "Ten (Three Variations)"

2020-11-03T11:59:46-08:00

The yellow-striped garden spider busy wrapping bees.
A used condom half buried in the corn plot.
The man on the roof unfurls his tape measure.
Little yellow birds: where have you gone?
Low river with branches glinting in the middle.
The neighbor carries buckets: empty then full.
Shades of gray, no rain, night coming early.
Sweeping the...

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Dora Malech, "The News"

2020-12-27T11:15:42-08:00

late December, 2016

Now’s news begins with babies on the way. Just one’s inside me, but another’s ascending to the throne our nation prides itself on not having, though among our American ways and means is “if you build it” etcetera, and this one claims...

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Carol Ellis, " Love Seat for Sale—$75 OBO "

2016-02-24T14:42:43-08:00

The beige boat parked outside says I’m supposed to leave by water
says the seas wait for me to finger their waves, jump into the air,
those are rivers and the thick orange of salmon leap
further than a hook and line can catch or not further and caught
to sit on the far...

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Seth Abramson, "Plague Year"

2020-05-11T12:03:09-07:00

We have moments

not lives. There’s a sudden breeze. Sweet scent.

One of our girls

puts a paw on her sister’s. The news is bad,

then worse, then off.

The president is everywhere. Bad and worse
and always. The news is numbers and people

choking on numbers

and people choking for air in hospital beds.

The children ride their...

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Amy Pickworth, "March 18, 2020"

2020-03-25T09:53:28-07:00

The sun doesn’t appear

to know the angel of death

is lurking near, hissing quiet,

passing over (or not).

My lush daughter is

out walking the graveyard,

hosting a picnic with a friend

who is also alive. They will

roll their eyes and hope-

fully remain six feet...

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Ryan Walsh, "Alaska Air"

2020-02-01T08:13:20-08:00

With the swipe of a card, you can be

anywhere.

Salmon in the fridge and a slab of kitchen quartz

like ice cream settled between angel food

and some toasted meringue.

What kind of light would you like?

Let's not forget, the permafrost will have its say

Earthquakes for dinner. And volcanoes.

This time...

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Sarah Louise Garrido, "11.6"

2019-11-06T10:44:32-08:00

Because I wanted to touch

the thing lasting, the river

under your eyes and mine,

we had a child. Another

miracle, its beauty and power

hovering always at the edges.

So much time in between

me and magnificence. So much

in the flesh to be attended to:

red face of a baby that’s mine,

red leaves littering the road.

Push it...

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Steven D. Schroeder, "Endnotes"

2019-10-29T20:37:26-07:00

This book needs no introduction.

Don’t you know who this book is?

This book was decided by a single vote.

This book is everybody’s favorite.

Children and adults alike will love this book.

Love this book or leave it.

This book must be seen to be believed.

This book as seen on TV.

This book is better than...

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Lea Marshall, "Last Acts, When You Know"

2019-10-03T07:37:26-07:00

stop counting
fill the car with dirt
make way
say no
cut the handles of plastic bags
finally kiss
plant bulbs
take off the dog’s collar
say yes
eat the oranges
make eye contact
open the gate
tell them
put the note in your pocket
touch his hand
pick up that trash
kneel by the peonies
offer
leave the doors open
block the shots
as many as you can

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LM Rivera, "SIXES AND SEVENS"

2019-09-04T17:34:34-07:00

...

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Meg Hurtado, "HEAVEN IS FULL OF GARBAGE DISPOSALS: PRAYER FOR LORENA BOBBITT"

2019-04-14T16:46:14-07:00

It all began with cherry blossoms,

cake, a swimming pool.

It began again by refrigerator light, as so much does.

From bed to kitchen - longest walk.

The men will say you gotta build

a bridge from battery to righteousness, but why?

We all held the knife....

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Devin Gmyrek, "Personality Test"

2019-06-05T12:37:54-07:00

Do you suffer from sleeplessness?

Are the stars’ bellies full of lead?

Would you be happy as a carpenter?

Are there tattoos we should know about?

Do you daily release a piercing ode?

What size’s your underwear?

Are you officially adulting?

Have you ever committed...

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ryan scariano, "The Worst Winter Since 1989"

2018-07-18T23:35:06-07:00

For the past three days,

white wind and heavy drifts

have closed the road.

Besieged by ten below,

but there’s enough to eat

and the power has held.

Then a strange miracle rises

from beneath this rented house,

from beneath winter—

the green...

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A.M. O'Malley, "DOOMED WASP"

2018-11-13T11:18:03-08:00

I doomed a wasp,

closed her up

in between two

window panes.

She is trapped

but doesn’t know it.

No one noticed

my mother’s silence

until she broke it.

I think about

her heaving body

the condition it is

now—ash.

My mother is

ash on a shelf and

I’m still...

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Jono Tosch, "Dinner Plans"

2010-01-13T08:07:42-08:00
You will cook a space needle.

You will cook the longest grain of rice.

The longest, most slender grain of rice

it will stretch around the world.

It will be the finest filament, it will shimmer.
...

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Jenny Drai, "A Family of Birds"

2014-06-14T16:30:14-07:00

“The creative adult is the child who survived.” Ursula LeGuin

Heaven isn’t lighter fluid or an antique cup overflowing /

full of sulpher

            matches.

When I light myself on fire, it’s just a metaphor for trying.

Reaching you is / practical / requires a practicum.

My father is...

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April Loman, "Discount Birth Control"

2010-12-03T05:57:25-08:00
I just want to get this over with.
Fine,
just sign your life away on the dotted line.
Don't forget,
we're having a special:
give one life,
get one more for twice the price.
Have a nice day.

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Shadab Z. Hashmi, "Tongue"

2019-03-07T17:52:11-08:00

The tongue in the Dictionary
    does all the defining
(It will never
    be tried
at the Hague)

is a translucence
     milked from a mature snake

is the velvet click
     of a drone attack

is that lusty flicker
     you and I saw at a mass grave

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Jessica Fjeld, "Who died and made you"

2018-05-16T13:16:56-07:00

I’m sorry that the pencil I gave you

to write out the list of how the day had wronged you

had a lead so soft it collapsed into the page

easy as an Odalisque I’m sorry you were

alone when it happened and that your skin

was purple,...

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