Rose Mary Boehm: “Dead machines” Dead machinesAt night, in the headlights,we see it at the entranceto the dump, slightly off centre:the washing machine,gleaming white in the dark,invested with importance.We pray that it may grant …

New #poetry by Rose Mary Boehm on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/rose-mary-bo...

Aarik Danielsen: “South 190th Street, Omaha” South 190th Street, OmahaDo you remember the way we grew up? You,somewhere in Washington, me somewhere else in Arizona. Bothknowing youth rooms where freshly-scrubbed seminary gradswith guitar stra…

"Because home is movable and you are the proof."

New poetry by @aarikdanielsen.bsky.social on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/aarik-daniel...

Jade Kleiner: “Blood Draw at MGH” Blood Draw at MGHThe curtain has an orchid waxing gibbous stain,a quarter inch grape jelly moon giving to off-beige fabric.The cloth spreads itself, completing the three walls.My throat words my bi…

The air loosens, the mosquito withdraws,
and I allow it to be another needle.

New #poetry by Jade Kleiner on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/jade-kleiner...

Jeremy Nathan Marks: “Cattywampus” CattywampusI scratch my skin and catchthe trunk of a hair with my fingernailthat is thicker and darker than the others,a hair which, when I try and pull it out,wriggles and writhes like a crawlerin…

Has anyone ever called the river
a ringworm when the air runs wetter
than normal, or has every proper
nickname been taken.

New #poetry by Jeremy Nathan Marks!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/jeremy-natha...

Samuel Prestridge: “Drab Horses (America, 1958)” Drab Horses (America, 1958)Before my cereal lost its crunch,I’d have the TV on and turnedto cowboy shows.  A motley bunchof bad guys riding round the bendtoward some shenanigans, a raceto no …

New #poetry by Samuel Prestridge on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/samuel-prest...

Anna Saunders: “One whistle to go after” One whistle to go after.The man has waysof communicating with his animal -different whistles; one to send it out,one to bring back the prize. When the man takes his doginto a café, women cluckand c…

"he pictures the fronds of scarlet bracken
rising like flames in an artist’s
illustration of hell,"

New #poetry by Anna Saunders on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/anna-saunder...

Savannah Williams: “Cell” CellThe death of that day became a calling cardto look through a blue mason jar, filled with water,and try to find god. Imagine the microscopic life—floating protozoa, like ghost sperm,fertilizing …

New #poetry by Savannah Williams on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/savannah-wil...

Poetry: February 2026 Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal: “Do Not Be Afraid” Rose Mary Boehm: “Dead machines” Aarik Danielsen: “South 190th Street, Omaha” Jade Kleiner: “Blood Draw at MGH” Jeremy Nathan Marks: “Cattywampus” Sa…

Our February Poetry Edition is now live! Check out fresh new poetry by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, @rmboehmpoet.bsky.social, @aarikdanielsen.bsky.social, Jade Kleiner, Jeremy Nathan Marks, Samuel Prestridge, Anna Saunders and Savannah Williams.

#poetry

asitoughttobemagazine.com/2026/02/27/p...

Dudley Stone: “Bad Roommates” Bad RoommatesIt’s just as well that when I met Mister Sherlock Holmeshe already shared lodgings with stolid Watson in Baker Street.We would not have got on. I could bear the violin, pipe,and chemic…

"I believed in Sherlock Holmes; my father believed in God."

New #poetry by Dudley Stone on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/dudley-stone...

Jason Ryberg: “Garden of Guilt” Garden of GuiltThe old rocking chairon the porch is moving witha ghost of wind andall the fallen leavesare sitting on the verge ofpanic, and it feelslike there’s thunder justbelow the floorboards a…

all the fallen leaves
are sitting on the verge of
panic, and it feels

like there’s thunder just
below the floorboards and cracks

New #poetry by Jason Ryberg on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/jason-ryberg...

Garth Pavell: “Cascade Loop” Cascade LoopThe sky looks high, you said as our car circledthe bloodshot dawn smoking on the mountains.We didn’t stop until we reached the iced coffeeat a female-run gas station in a valley of appl…

New #poetry on AIOTB by Garth Pavell!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/garth-pavell...

Kristen Keckler: “Woman and Sewing Machine” Woman and Sewing Machine After Joseph CornellAs beautiful as the chance meetingof a sewing machine and its mistresson a dissecting table,I am still as a dress modelcut from paper,waiting for you to…

I am still as a dress model
cut from paper,
waiting for you to flick
your switch, gazing toward
your cast iron arm,

New #poetry by Kristen Keckler on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/kristen-keck...

John Grey: “Relationships, Your Argument” Relationships, Your ArgumentYou told me to watch outbecause there were timeswhen you were out and out poisonous.But I nibbled. I even ate.And the longer we were together,the more you declared that …

New #poetry by John Grey on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/john-grey-re...

Cal Freeman: “Essay On Whistler” Essay On WhistlerThe Princess from the Land of Porcelain,a French woman wearing a kimononext to a vase painted with trilliumsand a small flock of yellow-eyed juncos.Whistler, you blamed a bad revie…

New #poetry by Cal Freeman on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/cal-freeman-...

Nada Faris: “The Way Forward” The Way ForwardLet the truth of what you want riseslowly to the surface. These butterflywings are not a testament of ease. And allthese hurricanes are misunderstood.Even moths are merely seeking wa…

New #poetry by Nada Faris on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/nada-faris-t...

Sarah Carleton: “Point of Reference” Point of ReferenceI tell friends the bottoms of my feettingle when I peer down at a gorge from a high bridge or watcha video of a cyclist popping wheelies on a roof or followthe wearable camera of …

how lightbulbs make me sneeze
or the word blood bends my vision

New #poetry by Sarah Carleton on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/sarah-carlet...

Poetry: January 2026 Sarah Carleton: “Point of Reference” Nada Faris: “The Way Forward” Cal Freeman: “Essay On Whistler” John Grey: “Relationships, Your Argument” Kristen Keckler: “Woman and Sewing Machine” Garth Pavel…

Our January 2026 Poetry Edition is live! Check out new work from Sarah Carleton, Nada Faris, Cal Freeman, John Grey, Kristen Keckler, Garth Pavell, Jason Ryberg, and Dudley Stone.

asitoughttobemagazine.com/2026/01/27/p...

#poetry

Madison Woodle: “Worms” WormsThe can is cold against her fingers.It’s hidden in her grip beneaththe table, her nail tracing the cool tin.Her feet don’t reach the floor,Twinkle Toes only brushing the tileas she kicks. If M…

"She tries to grab them, but they’ve found
a home in the noodles."

New #poetry by Madison Woodle on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/madison-wood...

Hedy Habra: “Whatever Remains of What We Once Knew So Well?” Whatever Remains of What We Once Knew So Well?Whatever remains of drafts and notes scribbled in marginsthat can no longer be deciphered or elucidated? What ofthe pain once thought unbearable after …

Whatever remains of memories stored inside drawers, kept
dormant or meant to be opened on an auspicious day? What
of the efforts to recognize dozens of white medicinal powders
by taste, touch, aspect, smell, or fricative sounds?

New #poetry by Hedy Habra!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/hedy-habra-w...

Adele Evershed: “loopy” loopybefore clocksthere were stone circles,listing like a groupof middle-aged womengathered for a girls’ night out—a way to grasp timewhen everything was a mystery,a place to gather,walk in circles…

maybe I look mad,
fingers tracing my chiseled past,
spooling thoughts—trance-like,
but in this spun-out moment
I can honor the mysteries of my body

New #poetry on AIOTB by Adele Evershed!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/adele-eversh...

Bonnie Demerjian: “A Lesson Not Taught in Supermarket School” About the Author: Bonnie Demerjian writes from her island home in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska, a place that nourishes her writing. Her poetry has appeared in Unbroken Journal, A…

New #poetry by Bonnie Demerjian on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/bonnie-demer...

James Benger: “pep talk” pep talkshe told mepeople have more fun in factories;they’re not so stuck up,everyone knows their place,knows they’re at the bottom,knows they have little,but deserves so much less,not like those o…

New #poetry by James Benger on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/james-benger...

R. A. Allen: “Bluing” BluingSharing a spidery basementwith the furnace,our washing machinehad two cycles—hot & cold.I discovered my momhand-washingher “good” whitesin the kitchen sink,with some kind of blueliquid in…

Mom had no time
to explain the alchemy
of bluing to a nine-year-old.

New #poetry by R.A. Allen on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/r-a-allen-bl...

Poetry: December 2025 R. A. Allen: “Bluing” James Benger: “pep talk” Bonnie Demerjian: “A Lesson Not Taught in Supermarket School” Adele Evershed: “loopy” Hedy Habra: “Whatever Remains of What We Once Knew So Well?” Mad…

Our December Poetry Edition is live, featuring new work by R. A. Allen, James Benger, Bonnie Demerjian, Adele Evershed, Hedy Habra, Madison Woodle, and Robin Wright.

asitoughttobemagazine.com/2025/12/24/p...

#poetry

Alicia Wright: “She doesn’t wish me dead” She doesn’t wish me deadbut she dreams me a clot,a porcelain smearchasing a current of almostson their trip downriver.I’m not the mythic real boy,the bookend sonin grass-stained denim,baseball card…

I’m not the mythic real boy,
the bookend son

New #poetry on AIOTB by Alicia Wright!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/alicia-wrigh...

J.R. Solonche: “The Ceiling” The CeilingIt is one sixty-fourth of a chessboard that isn’t there.I am the king of the white square the size of a room.It is a sky without birds, except for the ones I remember.It is a sky without…

It is the white satin lining of the coffin lid.
This is the lid that closes every night upon our lids.

New #poetry by J.R. Solonche on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/j-r-solonche...

Joseph Mills: “Retinue” RetinueAt first, they’re happy to be part of the one hundredchosen to remain with King Lear in his retirement.The A-team. The posse. The ones who made the cut.Then the daughters begin to ask why 10…

"Listen, and you’ll hear something being stripped away."

New #poetry by Joe Mills on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/joseph-mills...

Joshua Lillie: “WHAT BECOMES A TUMBLEWEED” About the Author: Joshua Lillie is a bartender in Tucson, Arizona. He is the author of the chapbook Small Talk Symphony (Finishing Line Press, 2025) and the collection The Outside They Built (Alien…

New #poetry on AIOTB by Joshua Lillie!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/joshua-lilli...

A.M. Hayden: “Ghost Leg” Ghost LegSometimeshe still tries to kickhis missing back legwhen we findthat right there spotscratch until we seeripples vibratejust beneath surfacerepeat messages activatedsent to nervesto spinal …

Sometimes
he still tries to kick
his missing back leg
when we find
that right there spot

New poetry on AIOTB by A.M. Hayden!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/a-m-hayden-g...

#poetry

John Compton: “the musical of the bell jar” the musical of the bell jarshe plays with the soundin her mouthtongues the note aroundlike a two-ton stonetrying to dislodgethe musicfrom her throat.a cricket hidits songunder a trapdoorwhere a tur…

she plays with the sound
in her mouth
tongues the note around
like a two-ton stone

New poetry by John Compton on AIOTB!

asitoughttobemagazine.com/john-compton...

#poetry