Poem by L. Wayne Russell

TRANSGRESSIONS

(C) L.W. Russell 2014

The world’s soul has gone incognito

as the devil incarnate.

Angels lay stagnant at the bottom

of my shot glass.

In between inaudible words are

spoken, air bubbles surface; frantic.

The cries of angels begin to fade.

One by one a begging ghost can be

seen cutting through the lukewarm

surface of my straight bourbon.

And now I know, what was pure in

my life has become no more.

The angels lie in the bottom of their

liquid coffin, wings motionless,

voices silent.

Father forgive me, for I have sinned...

again and again and again....

I cannot seem to stop this madness!

help me...

the angels have but all disappeared from

my life...

One by one by one they go, sinking into

the depths of a past that they can never

come back from.

* for all those I have lost to alcohol, may you rest in eternal peace*

Vallum Award for Poetry 2014: Shortlist Announced!

RHONDA COLLIS
“Life Cycle in C Major”
(Canada)

SUSAN HUGHSON
“Apple to Apple”
(Canada)

DIANE TUCKER
“The Unseen Desert” 
(Canada)

JAMES F. OLWELL
“Dream Upon, Jimmy Alexis, Stillborn” 
(Canada)

CARLA BARKMAN
“Last evening I stumbled”
(Canada) 

DOMENICO CAPILONGO
“pass this note” 
(Canada)

MELANIE SWETZ
“My Mother’s Magazines” 
(Turkey)

ALEXEI PERRY
“The Long Study”
(Canada)

STEPHEN CALDWELL WRIGHT
“Lessons From A Younger Brother” 
(USA)


Thank you to everyone who entered this year's contest.
The winners and honorable mentions will be announced mid-October. 
Winning poems will appear in issue 12:1 "Surrender."

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Vallum's next issue's theme is SURRENDER:

What does it mean to bend, to yield? Surrender manifests in different ways: joy, despair, a willingness to give up one’s “totality” for someone or something other than him or her self. We surrender to vices, to glory, to the divine, or to the void. How do you “surrender?” Send us your best poems!

DEADLINE:  November 1, 2014

For more information and guidelines, please visit us online:

www.vallummag.com/submission.html

Vallum Newsletter September 2014

Hear about the latest from Vallum! 

http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/273463/96a006a45b/1477666035/ba20c0e793/

JUST RELEASED: "A REMARKABLE GREY HORSE" poems by Thurston Moore + John Kinsella !

NOW AVAILABLE!!!  A Remarkable Grey Horse -- a collaborative poetry chapbook by THURSTON MOORE (musician and founder of experimental rock group SONIC YOUTH) and JOHN KINSELLA (author of over 30 books of poetry, fiction, and criticism)!

"Celebrating in the unnatural, reveling in the rebellious, A Remarkable Grey Horse is a collision of skateboards, Doris Day, punk rock, lighthouses, spume, skuzz, and Rimbaud. Here, bleak cityscapes, squalid apartments, and polluted waters urge the reader to 'explore disgust' and seek freedom."

ORDER YOURS NOW!
http://vallummag.com/ccorder.htm