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issue 1: CARNIVAL

ghostland

MADISON ZEHMER
imagine—an abandoned carnival deep in pinewood / 
rusting memories into dusk / moss

              inching up aching roller coasters / rotting swings blowing in the wind / 
                                                        what rejoiced now weeps /

feel it throb—feel soil straining under 
              carousels uproot itself / cruel in its heaviness / 
brittle as rotting bones /

                            nothing here can distinguish apparitions from mist / not even the sun /
              peeking through pine /

                                                        a place like this cannot be torn down / 
                                                              will always return to haunt the dreams 
                                           of those who dare to step into its sickness / dare to sneak into its murk /

close your eyes and it appears / close your eyes and it breathes— 

Madison Zehmer (she/her) is a poet and wannabe historian from North Carolina, United States, with published and forthcoming work in Déraciné Magazine, Drunk Monkeys, Gone Lawn, LandLocked Magazine, Kanstellation Magazine, and elsewhere. She is editor-in-chief of Mineral Lit Mag and a reader for Lily Poetry Review. Her first chapbook, “Unhaunting,” will be released by Kelsay Books in 2021.
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header photo: tore odiin (unsplash)
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