EROTICA Short Story Festival (automatic acceptance): Deadline November 30th

When a successful aerospace engineer is sabotaged by a vengeful business rival and haunted by two failed marriages, he embarks on an international journey of self-discovery with newfound hope and determination. Based on actual events. CAST LIST: Narrator: Hannah Ehman Michael: Shawn Devlin Dave: Geoff Mays Larry: Sean Ballantyne

Performed by Val Cole POEM: Standing at the back of the cafe With proud beard and warm smile The Gentleman finds me. Striding over and offering a hand he is present and sturdy with an openness to careful possibilities. Interest worn with flair like the dashing scarf carefully draped around his shoulders. Eyes like tempered… Continue reading ROMANCE Poetry Reading: THE GENTLEMAN, by Maggie Mae

Performed by Val Cole —- POEM: Not the first couple for there is no guilt but not the last for there is no guilt alone in the world and there is no world only two on this raft riding the sea with no sail no continent no destination no direction but each other plumbing the… Continue reading ROMANCE Poetry Reading: With You, by Patrick Trombly

Performed by Val Cole —- POEM: My Storm in a Bottle She rises over my house, like the sun, or the moon. The stars have tried to tell her, but she won’t listen. Just as she rises, She calls my name like thunder rolling slow through every inch of my house. Even if I am… Continue reading ROMANCE Poetry Reading: My Storm in a Bottle, by Kewayne Wadley

I move through evenings, a secret wish unspoken woven into quiet streets, soft corners, each heartbeat whispering your name like a prayer. I circle your world faithful, unwavering. Each turn, a vow; each glance carrying a kindness I can’t disguise. I pause by your street: windows glowing like lanterns of affection. I wait for a… Continue reading LOVE Poem: Chasing Light, by Ashri Gorte

Her flesh was made of pure gold He placed amethysts in her eyes Turquoise on each fingertip Day and night Wary not to miss a single detail Beauty did not come without a cost A basket of discarded hearts His and their tears Day and night She was now all that remained They all were… Continue reading LOVE Poem: The Blacksmith, by Angelina Hong

Too hot, Too cold, Too small that’s how El cajon is built the way you can see the heat waves in the streets and cars in the summer or the way it never snows but you can feel yourself freezing during winter the way two cars can barely fit through the streets of Emerald and… Continue reading LOVE Poem: El Cajon, by Geovanna Santiago

The sun is thirsting for her as much I do. I can see that through the window of my sport’s pub, through the tiny square with the fountain where we just had lunch together, through the window of her gym where she’s laughing with her client and showing her how to use the leg extension… Continue reading LOVE Poem: i want to know, by Katerina Dementeva

Love is a magnetic power. Dehydrated connections will systematically drain the needy. Don’t misuse love, to only dampen the need for spiritual electricity. As the testing times, clouds are risky. Love is near. Love is towered in with the concept of reaching dreamable heights. Protects the purities that leechs on sight. Truth is found in… Continue reading LOVE Poem: Love is a Flower, by Reebie Flowers

1. words clog my ears like parasites I pull them out one by one yet thousands make their nest they move deeper fill my mouth as sweet as tangerines and warm as butter eating what’s left of my I am they leave no room for doubt from wandering limbs to docile mind for once I’m… Continue reading LOVE Poem: the divine serpent’s tongue, by Isabella Bullock