Susan Isla Tepper presented her darkly comic play CLANDESTINE in an Equity  Premiere Staged-reading, hosted by SHOPTALK, on June 10 at EAG Guild Hall Theatre, NYC. Her latest Novel “Hair of a Fallen Angel” was published by Spuyten Duyvil Books. A twenty-year writer, she’s written 12 published books of fiction and poetry and 7 stage plays. Honors include 21 Pushcart Prize Nominations. Her play ‘The Crooked Heart’ concerning artist Jackson Pollock premiered on October 25, 2022 at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC. Adapted from an earlier novel, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Susan is a Brand Ambassador for The Galway Review. A Youtube music video for her latest novel at: https://youtu.be/W2HVIc4NrqY
http://www.susantepper.com

Séance

for Keith Pearson

The chain broke
when somebody let out 
a giggle
more followed—
louder— people 

practically convulsing 
around the tatty table—
cigarette burns
marking purple velvet fringe 
cloth I kept kneading 
out of nerves.
 
Séance leader 
called us a dog pack 
her fat mole shaking 
above her spiraling smoke.
 
Face to face she stared
around the circle:
Marking each person indelible.
 
Keith, this one guy, saying:
We’ll never see truth
’cause we don’t seek truth
just the slime-drool 
from the kai-oats mouth 
after a fresh kill. 
 
He stood up grabbing his coat.
Did not shut
the door behind himself.
 
A different guy quipped Coyotes, asshole.
 
We all jumped up
from the table
shoving aside heavy curtains 
to watch him blunger 
his way through the snowfall.

The Séance leader kept screaming
for someone to close the door.

A freezing gust blew in,
snuffed out the candles.

Photography by Alexis Rhone Fancher

Poet/photographer, Alexis Rhone Fancher has authored 11 books of poetry and flash, most recently, EROTIC, and BRAZEN (both published by NYQ.), and TRIGGERED (MacQueens). Coming up: A Picture is Worth a Poet’s Words, a photo-portrait book of over 100 Southern California poets will be publishe in early 2026 by Moon Tide Press, in addition to publishing Alexis’ full-length, erotic book of poems and flash fiction, CockSure. SinkHole, a chapbook of twenty-five“sister” pantoums, exploring her beloved sister’s final illness and death, will be published by MacQueen’s in January, 2026. A multiple Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee, Alexis recently won Best MicroFiction 2025. She calls the Mojave Desert home..www.alexisrhonefancher.com