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DRUNK MONKEYS IS A Literary Magazine and Film Blog founded in 2011 featuring short stories, flash fiction, poetry, film articles, movie reviews, and more

Editor-in-chief KOLLEEN CARNEY-HOEPFNEr

managing editor

chris pruitt

founding editor matthew guerrero

POETRY / A Four Finger Fantasy / Karo Ska

Image courtesy FOX

christmas miracles do happen:
not if you’re a poor, mixed-
race kid living in Van Nuys,
but if you're Bart, Tiny Tim

Charlie Brown or the Smurfs -
even then it doesn't mean winning
a bet on a greyhound. it means
taking home the dog who ​lost

for the last time​. miracles don't mean
presents under the tree, miracles
lick Lisa's cheek with a warm, thick
tongue. miracles are a parking lot

scattered in lost bets, a dog running
into Homer's arms. like Homer,
my mom gets no holiday bonus,
no surprises for me, only a trip

to JCPenney for my school uniform.
we are not the Flanders, with a pile
of presents & a lit-up house. not like
the Simpsons, no miracles happened

for us, no Santa's Little Helper
dashing through the door, no father
& child bonding at a race track. only
chinese take-out & mom popping pills.

we watch the Simpson's Christmas
Special, crawling eyes reach
for the screen, desiring number fifty-
six blue hair or four fingers, longing

for a happy ending of kisses & smiles
but the credits flash yellow on black,
fantasy snaps shut, eyes curdle. at night,
I chop off a finger, hoping I wake up

wearing yellow skin & a red dress.


Karo Ska is a femme/non-binary poet of color, living in occupied Tongva Land with her black cat muse. She hopes to threaten the status quo and build towards an anti-authoritarian, autonomous world. She will be releasing her first chapbook soon! Give her a follow on twitter @karo_ska

POETRY / Yeah, I’m late to watching AHS 1984, but it’s the night terrors of you making good on your promise to kill me that haunt me / Kim Sousa

FILM / Finding the Sacred Among the Profane: The Black Dahlia / Sean Woodard

FILM / Finding the Sacred Among the Profane: The Black Dahlia / Sean Woodard

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