Today:
HIPOCRACIES – 1. THE ERASURE OF HISTORY
Chilllleeee, people be lying to themselves and to others. It is interesting to consider the reason for this deception. This collection of poems explores the glaringly obvious hypocrisies that people perpetrate today in our very polarized political climate.
BUSINESS GARBAGE – 1 – ITS HIGH INFLATION
It’s a mixtape about money and shit. This serial poem is rated M for mature, and features strong language that may not be suitable for all audiences. Readers’ discretion is advised.
STONE HAND (LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP) RE-RUN – 1. STONE HAND’S INCEPTION
Stone Hand is the future leader of America. Relive the rise of the man who will shape the future with his strong hand, it’s our man, Stone Hand!
ELECTRICITY SONNETS RE-RUN – OHM’S FRIED CHICKEN
A few years ago, I took a class about electrical wiring, and very true to form, I spent a lot of class time writing sonnets. I was able to fix my light switch when it broke, so I got more than a few sonnets out of it.
See the Vodun Sakpata assemble a team to rid the multiverse of Une.
We here at the PRL are happy to wish you, dear readers, a beautiful and transformational 2026 Equinox. I will admit that I hadn’t thought about the equinox before we were discussing our publishing schedule for the year. We knew that we wanted to do an issue for each month, but we had to consider if the October-November specials would continue to be three stand-alone issues. Ultimately, we decided to keep roughly the same number of special issues for the year, but to do Halloween and Fêt Deads as single issue specials, in addition to the Annual Issue and the newly christened Equinox and Solstice issues. Deciding what exactly these new special issues would be is a whole other thing that has led to intense discussion in the PRL Offices.
Would they be holiday themed like Halloween and Fêt Deads? Or an opportunity to showcase characters from the current and past volumes, like the Annual Issue? One thing that was always clear, Equinox and Solstice would be the perfect vehicles for Interim Shorts that appear on the website between issues when our contributors find the time to post them. We’ve been light on the Interim Shorts in 2026, but hopefully that changes as the year continues and we settle more comfortably into our new publishing schedule.
So, what is the Equinox Issue? What did the contributors to the PRL Serials decide for the fate of this very special issue? Poetry, all poetry from tip to tail. That’s right, the Equinox Issue is a celebration of poetry and features two new serial poems and reruns of some of our favorites from years past, including the Electricity Sonnets and Stone Hand (leaders and Leadership). Definitely be on the lookout for future Equinox issues that will feature new and ongoing serial poems and re-runs of poetry from PRL past.
Check back in December for more information about the Solstice Issue.
The majority of the poetry featured in the PRL Serials is done by yours truly, and I am the only founding member who writes poetry, but if you want to be featured in future Equinox Issues, definitely contact us through the website (https://prlserials.com/contact/) and hopefully we can achieve the true spirit of celebrating poets and poetry in the future as we welcome the springtime. Until then, it’s all bangers folks so strap in for the best serial poetry on the internet.
I love poetry and though I consider myself a fiction writer, I have written and studied poetry for just as long as I have fiction. Poetry is essential, and I understand if that sounds pretentious, because it is, but that doesn’t make it any less true for me. Poetry has been the most effective tool I possess for expressing my emotions to others, and studying the way other masters of the English language manipulate words is one of my favorite pastimes; though, admittedly, I’ve spent a lot of my time with fiction in the past decade. I find poetic inspiration from many different sources. My favorite poet is probably Langston Hughes and he’s inspired me to incorporate the music of my time into my work, which is how the poem Business Garbage Mixtape Vol 1 came into being. My favorite rapper is Ghostface Killah, his are the rhymes that sing the most to me away from the music and I love alluding to his words and his cadences. He exhibits a comfort with the expression of his thoughts to a beat, and I think the reason so many laud his storytelling is because he interacts with the beat in such a knowing way that it’s baffling he still has the wherewithal to actually communicate a clear idea or narrative. I also really like James Joyce, who is most associated with fiction, but he wrote poetry as well, and I love his attention to the sounds of words. He never overstays his welcome and it always made me go back to reread his poems over and over.
I would be remiss not to mention one of my greatest influences, the great Wystan Hugh Auden. I spent a lot of 2011-2014 listening to Auden (as well as Ted Hughes who I also like a lot) reading his poetry on my way to and from work. I love reciting his poetry, it gives me the same thrill I feel when I rap along to Jay-Z, or SZA, or Logic. The poem O Where Are You Going? by Auden is one of my favorites to recite. Read this outloud:
“O what was that bird,” said horror to hearer,
“Did you see that shape in the twisted trees?
Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly,
The spot on your skin is a shocking disease.”
It doesn’t have the expected ABAB rhyme scheme, but it’s more satisfying because it goes beyond just the end-rhymes ‘trees’ and ‘disease’. The third line, with its in-rhyme ‘swiftly’ and ‘softly’, gives you even more lyrical flair. The combination of ‘horror to hearer’ is interesting as well, the open sound with the closed, as well as the consonances that repeat with ‘twisted trees’, ‘swiftly…softly’, ‘spot…skin…shocking disease.’ It is a master class on musicality in poetry. Definitely check him out.
We hope you enjoy the inaugural Equinox issue. Be sure to come back soon for the March 2026 Issue!
PRL Serials 