Does It Have Pockets

Our celebratory wishes also go with our 2027 Nominations for Best Small Fictions!

Congratulations to our 2027 Best of the Net Nominees! <3

Our October Art & Hybrid Gallery features the gift of these whimsical urban sketches of Drdhadevi Karin Blümke | www.doesithavepockets.com/artandhybrid...

"Family arrives like an invading army." Two zinging, witty #poems from Edward Lineberry | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/edwar...

"Five times ten years it's been. We gotta be up for a renewal." With a unique duet of perspectives, a look back at a marriage, in new #fiction from Xavier George | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/xavi...

"They’ll memorize your face as other crows learned the face of the scientist who tagged their young in the nest—" Two visually lush, heart-knocking new #poems from Julie A. Cox | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/julie...

"The clerk sees me looking and doesn't comment. After all the years, I imagine, he has learned exactly which silences to keep." Elegantly spare new #fiction from John Dennis | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/john...

"I kept looking at the other guys, there were only guys on the midnight shift, and they seemed oblivious to this assault." A quietly gorgeous retrospective from Mark LaMonda #creativenonfiction | www.doesithavepockets.com/cnf/mark-lam...

"Those storms will be due soon, Alice. Are you sure you can make it back to camp in time?" Full of dark wit and dynamic prose, don't miss this new #fiction from Laura Rikono @aethalope.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/laur...

"I type Jacqueline. The phone suggests jacket." Two brightly bittersweet meditations on grief in these new #poems from #dihpalum Veronica Tucker | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/veron...

"“You know I hate when you try to top from the bottom.”" Dynamic, irreverent, inimitable new #fiction from Jon Willer | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/jon-...

"Dad’s heart has tried to kill him more times than he’s lied about quitting smoking." #Poems that feel comfortingly familiar & sparklingly fresh, new from @litsadremousis.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/litsa...

"Such was the ineffectual and immaterial nature of the fire of youth." A fantastic new #longread #fiction from @jgsteen.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/jere...

"....Michelangelo chose slow marble. We cut outsized egos from cigarettes." Two singular, nimble new #poems from @chrispb.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/chris...

"No need to learn alone like I did." Fathers, sons, & an exploration of grace, in new #fiction from teen writer Christopher Grady | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/chri...

"A faint grunt with each hit, the wood’s cold math." Transformative & bright with imagery, don't miss these two new #poems from #dihpalum @lauradehartyoung.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/laura...

"...Rylie identifying as a bunny wasn’t the first alarming thing to come from their collaborative trip a few weeks prior." Both surreal and hyper-real, take a trip inside this beautiful new #fiction from Ellory Skye | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/ello...

"...maybe I could disappear but he’s still bellowing and she’s still crying..." A darkly urgent, profoundly vulnerable new micro CNF from @mariecloutier.bsky.social new for October | www.doesithavepockets.com/cnf/marie-cl... (CW: please read with care) #creativenonfiction

"Understand I cannot see to reply in gracious, kind ways just yet, maybe never." Two beautifully genuine poems for October, new from @kellyrsamuels.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/kelly... #poetry

"I felt the intimacy of our voices entwined without our bodies ever touching. Hidden closeness in plain sight." Music, love, & what hides between in this essential #longread #fiction from Rachel McCarron. Please don't miss this one <3 | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/rachel-mccarron

"....Maybe if I let my son say fuck as a child it will grow into any other word: wrinkle or bushwhack or apricot." An intimate, authentic, & stunning trio of #poems, new from Kristina Percy | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/krist...

"It’s all fun and games at the rodeo until the angels show up..." Another ethereal, magic-laden, wonder-filled #fiction from DIHP alum KM Baysal | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/km-b...

"Secure or not we dwell in persuasion." A pair of playfully pensive #poems new from Gregory O'Neill | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/grego...

"Some remarks are pithy and poignant, like the small yellow note stating simply, “I’ve never felt lonelier than when I moved to the USA.”" Discover a gently gorgeous journey in this new #creativenonfiction from Laurie Drabble | www.doesithavepockets.com/cnf/laurie-d...

"Two snakes were playing Hearts. Both cheated." Delightfully quirky new #fiction from Michael Drezin | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/mich...

"The first time they saw each other, he put the leash and collar on and she made like a still heavy rock." Part lovesong, part essay, fully beautiful, lyric new #creativenonfiction from Rob S. Rutherford | www.doesithavepockets.com/cnf/rob-s-ru...

"It was she who had built the system of routines she called the factory, and she held the sole authority to halt it." A quietly powerful story of aging, caregiving, and the relationships that surround both in this new #fiction from Aldo Giovannitti | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/aldo...

"I keep waiting for a sentence with enough gravity to ruin my life in the right direction." Uniquely voiced and vividly drawn, two new #poems from Scott Kenimond @scottthepoet.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/scott...

"You dress like Hulk Hogan. Your yellow tights are okay. Unfortunately, the handlebar mustache is itchy and keeps falling off." An exquisitely poignant coming of age heartbreaker, new from Matthew Kasper | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/matt... #fiction

"But you only see multi-shades of moldy-brown, an easter egg dipped in too many dyes at once." A pair of singularly cinematic #poems from @williamteets.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/willi...

"If a shard of glass grazes your cheek: the better, the better." Dark, propulsive & brilliant, don't miss this new flash #fiction from Mandy Lange | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/mand...

Does It Have Pockets "They think it’s some kind of miracle, like women haven’t been giving birth to foxes for centuries now." A trio of sparkling #poems from Tresha Faye Haefner | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/tresh...

"keep a hand on the sheet, always, i’ve been trained, but this flax sail was woven by my daughter and there will never be another." A stunning pair of poems from Travis Stephens, new for September | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/travi...

Does It Have Pockets "We became fixated on this news reel from beyond, and worried." Two superlative new #poems from Marc Harshman | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/marc-...

"“Your grandma tasted like old lace and butterscotch candies,” I said, snapping my jaws." Blurring the lines between real & imagined, powerful new literary speculative #fiction from Verdell Walker @vwalkerwrites.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/verd...

"It doesn’t do to poke the creature that lives in her chest, the one that roars when she thinks of all she’s lost." A small, perfect meditation on grief from the wonderful @jackmorris.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/jack... #fiction

"In a haughty voice, I inform my mom that I’m anti-fur." Warm and nuanced new #CreativeNonfiction from Abby Alten Schwartz @abbys480.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/cnf/abby-alt...

Our September gallery features the vibrant work of Serial Color Dabbler Joyce Stone: www.doesithavepockets.com/artandhybrid...

A Conversation with the brilliant #dihpalum Beth Sherman! Up now in Features : www.doesithavepockets.com/features/b-s...

Your semi-annual reminder: DIHP is Fee-Free til the end of August! www.doesithavepockets.com/subs

Don't miss our latest interview, this time with Pockets alumna Jessica Purdy! We talk poetry, marsupials, dreams, and a whole lot more. www.doesithavepockets.com/features/j-p...

"As soon as the fishtailing started, I latched onto the first glowing thing I saw: a Waffle House sign, like a beacon in the storm." Love, addiction, friendship, & Waffle House. Magnificent new #fiction from Colin Bishoff | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/coli...

"I only stood back minting what currency I could from ruin" Two singularly breathtaking new #poems from Mark Dunbar | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/mark-...

"Her memory is increasingly selective and her world view set to outrage." Boundaries, grief, & family, beautifully writ in this new #longread #fiction from John Wegner | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/john...

"...Word meets wood as custom typographical designs of individual poems are then burned by hand into bespoke pieces of wood..." Stop, drop, & roll on over to this month's spectacular Art & Hybrid Gallery featuring the vibrant Haiku Pyrography of Brasswax | www.doesithavepockets.com/artandhybrid...

"We fueled each other’s best and worst. He was neurotic. I drank too much." An elegy for a lost friend with a complicated legacy, profoundly & delicately wrought by Thomas Phalen | www.doesithavepockets.com/cnf/thomas-p...

"Please believe me when I write that I love more than what I’ve lost" A meditation on color & a note to Justin Bieber, wrapped in two fantastic poems from Matt Zambito | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/matt-...

"On November 7, 1995, a tropical cyclone formed in the monsoon trough of the Bay of Bengal." Tense, dynamic, poignant new creative nonfiction from Nicole Irizawa, new for August | www.doesithavepockets.com/cnf/nicole-i...

"When I’m in the hospital in labor, she perches on the bed shouting through her megaphone: “Gimme a push! A push! A P-U-S-H.”" Two dynamic & shimmery flash #fictions, new from DIHP alum @claudiamonpere.bsky.social | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/clau...

"Picture me frothing at the farmhouse sink" Two cinematic & vibrant new #poems from Isabel Galupo | www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/isabe...