I Know a Liar
When he shared his victory over alcohol
for instance, it was still on his breath. He
said in all sincerity, “I don’t date ugly
bitches” in the ugliest way imaginable,
pointing at a picture of his would-be bride,
“I don’t waste my time,” he continued, and
though I could feel my own wasting, my own
dimming in the light of what new knowledge
might kindle, though I’d heard what men say
when they mean to be silent, or should,
I smiled politely, like taking a sip from
a flask of some stupid hurt or grief plain
as day, and I said, “No, please, go on.”
Where You Win
It’s always a bus. No blood, of course, but a comic
scream and the woosh of the chrome beast, a whale
scooping up my old boss, a small churlish woman
with the hair and clothes that announce her tyranny:
none of this needs love, none of me can be swayed,
bring your sunny belief in my humanity, your cracked
pleas——have you no shame?——ring hollow. A woman
who chooses this cut, no make-up, not even lip gloss,
who says, “I am sorry” with a smirk, is an animal who
outweighs that kind of brave you once aspired to. She
is a principality, a being beyond your ken. All you know
is flesh and surface. What do you make of her kind——
a whole shadow world you never believed was there,
can only be conquered in these pathetic dreams.
Kill Shot
Mercy be fleet of feet, be sure, be swift, be clear and poised,
sure to say what was practiced, take the measured tone, take
your leave and leave, without a word, without a husband,
without the kids, too. Can’t avoid the blood, might say blood
is necessary, unnecessary goodbyes only prolong the tableau,
a black-eyed animal teetering, watching itself hobble away.
J.D. Isip is the winner of the 2026 Louise Bogan Award for his collection, What Wonder (Trio House Press, 2027), and he is the editor for the upcoming anthology, The American Pop Culture Almanac: Daily Readings of Poetry & Prose (Moon Tide Press, 2027). His full-length collections include Reluctant Prophets (Moon Tide Press, 2025), Kissing the Wound (Moon Tide Press, 2023), and Pocketing Feathers (Sadie Girl Press, 2015). His most recent favorite revenge story is HBO’s Half Man——messy, messy bitches will take everyone down with them.
