by Steve Toase
(Eng­land)

Sky had been addict­ed to fire­works since first tast­ing them scorch through her in Chi­na over a thou­sand years ago. 

To try and explain the nar­cot­ic rush of these chem­i­cals would not trans­late into our lan­guage. Noth­ing else compared. 

Filed under: Jabberwocky 13

by Shan­non Con­nor Winward
(USA)

I went into ground for you. I faced the guardians
of the gates of hell.
I gave away my jew­eled bracelets
and marched naked to the cat-calls of the dead
all to res­cue your sor­ry ass
and here you are,
hud­dled on your mildewed throne
speech­less as a shrug. 

Filed under: Jabberwocky 13

by 小川 幸生 Yuki­mi Ogawa
(Japan)

The seed keep­er wait­ed. Only she didn’t know how long she had yet to wait.

She was released from her lit­tle shrine when the world died, when the shrine was crushed flat by the lethal storm. She looked up. She could see, beyond the smoke and ash­es and dust, that the last rain was coming. 

Filed under: Jabberwocky 13

by Julia Rios
(USA)

I dreamed the moon
came down from the sky;
I dreamed she was dat­ing an old friend of mine,
shar­ing a flat with 6 others,
shoe­string budget,
kiss­ing all the time to keep warm. 

Filed under: Jabberwocky 13