What Cory and Topanga Had

Roman hands craft a hoax,
a boy, his balloon,
bourbon colored feathers
prick my gums as I bite into
your pillow and we still
cover up

Yes mom, her parents are home

Bull elephant
security guards,
Saturday afternoon
shopping mall,
the haunted houses are in season

Foxes under flashlights
kissing scenes,
contracts,
a promise
ring off screen

Freshman year, opinions about girls who drink beer

Nursing home visitor comfortable
still afraid of bees
clinical pricks and pinches
and I swear I’ll be fines

Frankie returns from Hollywood
an Indian far removed from
his cupboard


Jason Joyce recently graduated from the University of Wyoming with a bachelor's in Business Administration and a minor in Creative Writing and is now living in Los Angeles, working in event planning at Loyola Marymount University. He plays bass and synth in the band The Rubbish Zoo, and is working on his first full-length collection of poems. You can find out more about his writing and published poetry on his blog at jasonrjoyce.tumblr.com.


My friend Jeff’s house is haunted. We’ve seen and heard a number of unexplainable things spread over the five years I’ve known him. Thus, it only made sense that one night someone would bring over an Ouija Board to play with. I wanted to remain objective and watch what was happening around us in the house instead of participating.

A bit into the session, the questions turned toward “If there is something here with us can you give us a sign.” Nothing happened at first, but when the "show yourself" question was asked again I saw what I can only describe as a dim yellow light creep from the edge of the wall near the entryway as if emanating from the coat closet. It was tendril-ish and reminded me of a screen saver on an old PC. The light was a dirty, smoky ashtray glass yellow, and quickly bright. I leapt from chair while telling them to close the session, somewhat out of instinct, though saw nothing when I took the four steps to reach the corner and round it. Everyone at the table had thought I was taking a picture with my phone using the flash. They only caught a quick glimmer out of the corner of their eyes as their focus was on the board.

 I can't explain what I saw, and know it is hard to count as validly paranormal because of the Ouija Board's involvement; but still spooky? Maybe.