Punk Monk Press/Magazine

Halloween’s here! ie:   Lucky Girl’s NEW SINGLE, Arm Candy, is OUT NOW!  And it merits backstory.  I refrain from divulging intimately on the internet. In this instance, honesty is worth sacrificing some discretion.  Halloween is about shadow. Embracing, accepting, even celebrating it (within reason.) It brings scars to light. This song reveals qualities I try to hide: my clinginess, neediness, my inability to let go. A side most typically induced via entanglement with narcissists.  I hope this song will comfort those who struggle to exit toxic situations. As for those who made it through: consider it our power anthem (particularly the third verse.)  It’s best we all stay home this Halloween. May this song accompany your cozy indoor ventures! Gratuitous thanks to TC, an awe-inspiring producer/musician. (All instrumental and cover design credit goes to you!) Thanks to Lauren at Chatters for the rockstar hair, and to Candy Candy, for supplying the candy neck...

Today, I learned that forever is the dirtiest word. It's a lie we tell to children; Santa, Bunny, Forever. The dreamer in me took her last breath; wanting to believe in the storybook, but seeing only poison apples and bloody spindles splattered on the chapters in my brain. It was a pretty lie, forever, thinking you could be that missing piece, the only one whose edges fit perfectly into that groove. But, you never were.  Someone else's trash, can get shoved right in, sitting there,  the final pebble to really take you down.  The things that make you feel worthless, cementing that you always were, just a jagged piece, not worth loving, not worth honesty, not worth much. And, maybe you've always seen it, blurred indications, ignored, stacking up in your heart, weighing it down. I am a learner, but I didn't know a heart could break twice. I didn't know friends slithered in the grass; I didn't expect two knives; I didn't know it was all a test. Everyone's fa...

She calls up and asks if I’m coming to the reunion lots of people will be there, it’ll be so cool  to see so many old faces  together in the same room again, and I drop a couple of names find out my friends are all dead, I don’t know how that happened I don’t know why or how I’m still here.    She lists some people she knows are coming  and I wasn’t friends with them, I didn’t hang out with them at all,  they wouldn’t hang out with me back then I don’t know why I still know their names. I say yeah, that’s neat maybe I’ll come, I don’t know if anyone’ll even remember me can already feel the whispers burning into the back of my neck the insults I somehow managed to ignore, even when they were screamed accompanied with spitballs and rocks and violence after school I don’t know why I bother  answering the phone anymore. --Holly Day

My love/hate relationship with technology always manages to find "technology advisors" who continually use jargon to try to "help" neophyte users such as myself.  I ran across this little gem of advice today.  "While (jargon term)-ing a (jargon term), tap the (jargon term) to bring up the (jargon term) and the (jargon term). On the left hand side is a (jargon term). Make sure the (jargon term) is off. DISCLAIMER! Although tempted, no keyboards were harmed in the typing of this post! --Kent Hoffman

I each headache or sleepless night or irritating experience with health insurance or financial aid or apartment plumbing bleeds another shade into my collected ideations of suicide (I am fra/gile), I am broken broken reokbn enkorb ebonrk onbrke rokbne bnreko (and the nausea) nebrok nbekor knrobe boerkn kerbon oeknrb (ad … nauseam) --Connor Orrico 

If they had said damnation was this sweet I would have clipped off my wings Thrown my halo into a river Cause her kisses are the only taste of heaven I need Damn anyone who tries to stop me If there is any gospel to be shared it is her And like a sinner I would enjoy every minute --Charlotte Edwards

Visceral Uterus is launching a lifestyle magazine that's spiritually-conscious yet punk AF. Social responsibility is punk AF. Positivity is punk AF. Kindness is punk AF. Self-care is punk AF. We're seeking photography, art, poetry, fiction, articles, reviews, and questions for our advice columnist who offers a hard hit of tough love. Interested columnists should query with their suggested topic. Send all submissions to visceraluterus@gmail.com with the heading DRUNK MONK SUBMISSION. Paste in the body of the email, as per usual. The magazine will get its own email in time. Be patient, will ya? Any poetry/stories submitted to Visceral Uterus will also be considered for publication in the magazine. Extra points for lifestyle columnists in the Toronto area! Lots of love, C E Hoffman