YOU GOT VALENTINES PLANS THREE GREAT BALTIMORE WRITERS TWO SICK ELECTRONIC/AMBIENT SETS AT A JUNK SHOP WHERE YOU CAN BUY BOOKS

We watched two guys hop the fence of a school and shoot hoops. I recognized one of the guys as Heath Ledger. I said, “That’s Heath Ledger.” HOOPS WITH THE JOKER by Remy Barnes www.bruisermag.com/Barnes_Joker

The steel toes from the good leather of his boots. The firing pin from his hunting rifle. A box of mildewed pornos. MAN BITES DOG by Christian Fuller www.bruisermag.com/Fuller_Dog

“When did Lungfish break up?” Will Journobot1995™ pass the Lungfish test? Can you? Find out with @timkabara.bsky.social in this week’s ANYTHING FOR A WEIRD LIFE ↓ www.bruisermag.com/kabara_weirdlife420

I come close to texting Crimestoppers for company; I’m deep undercover anyhow Three poems by @ewenglass.bsky.social www.bruisermag.com/Glass_ThreePoems

I could taste the light / coming over the / steaming mountains / of mulch where suffering / was. Five poems by Don Berger www.bruisermag.com/Berger_FivePoems

to make the sign for “old” bring your right hand bunched together in a fist up just below your chin Two ASL poems by Bobby Vanecko www.bruisermag.com/vanecko_twop...

Loved the hell out of this one by @badguybirnie.bsky.social! It’s clever and creepy and funny and gritty in all the best ways.

This wasn’t a case of my imagination running wild. Wasn’t a case of brains fried, tripping out on futures past. This was real, goddamnit. Whatever it was. WELCOME TO YOUR FUTURE by @badguybirnie.bsky.social www.bruisermag.com/Birnie_Future

Have you ever seen roaches fucking? It’s the only thing the moon cares to watch. Two prose poems by Jane Shin www.bruisermag.com/Shin_TwoPoems

As I checked out, the clerk complimented my choice. But the question that is key is “What do you know about Baltimore Club Music?” @timkabara.bsky.social is back with another CD you may have missed in this week’s ANYTHING FOR A WEIRD LIFE www.bruisermag.com/kabara_weird...

All a good movie has ever needed / is an evocative title. Three poems by John Sara www.bruisermag.com/Sara_ThreePoems

What I remember happening probably didn’t happen quite as I remember it. Six new prose poems from Howie Good www.bruisermag.com/good_prosepo...

This is like if Ed Tom Bell had a third dream at the end of No Country for Old Men and in that third dream there was no horn full of fire or an existential crisis and instead a silver lining to be found in Dick Van Dyke's chest hair bsky.app/profile/brui...

If someone made a mistake and then realized it, supposedly there was back-up somewhere. But if someone made a mistake and did not notice, the baker would just be fucked when the bread didn’t turn out. THE MOTHER by Marie Buck www.bruisermag.com/Buck_Mother

“Fuck this. We gotta go make our own fate.” Lukas Armstrong-Laird interviews legendary low-budget Vermont filmmaker Colin Thompson on the 10th anniversary of It’s Us

Behind him at some distance, a man in a silver tutu with rainbow sunglasses eats watermelon slices, girls with cupholders as tops sleep on discarded airplane seats. I don’t remember when I last slept. The hallway looks like a rest stop from an '80s horror. SURFACES by Michela Grimaldi ↓

I confide that I’ve been thinking a lot about Dick Van Dyke lately and even had a romantic dream about him. “Dick as he is now or like when he was young?” my husband asks. “Now.” “Sounds more like a nightmare.” A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR by @olangela.bsky.social www.bruisermag.com/James_Spoonful

The whole way they were repeating themselves over and over. Dead broke, so dead broke we can’t afford to party. So broke we can’t afford crumbs. We’re so dead broke we can’t afford to blink. Or to get a slushie anyway. I RAN OVER MICHAEL PHELPS WITH MY CAR by John Crawford ↓

Arumandhira - FOR ANIMAL USE ONLY, zine cover artwork in conjunction with Mark Wadley published by BRUISER @bruisermag.com available February 2026

As their set progressed, a victory lap of sturm and drang, wild howls and heavy heavy hardcore in full effect, I reflected on thirty years of this here wild scene. @timkabara.bsky.social is back with the scene report in this week's ANYTHING FOR A WEIRD LIFE. www.bruisermag.com/kabara_weird...

Who else here’s got great legs like Jesus? Cause I wanna go kicking in the yard. Who was here spilling drinks with me When the man came around? WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JESUS? & HOW I WROTE WHATEVER HAPPENED TO JESUS by David Birse www.bruisermag.com/birse_jesus

ATTN all AWP attendees & Baltimore bruisers: BRUISER MART will be Thursday, March 4. Book fair, readings + panels, and AWP afterparty offsite at The Ottobar. More details below. Vendor applications are open now ↓ www.bruisermag.com/mart_vendcall

i can’t imagine a world that wasn’t tinged blue, black in its depths hitherto unknown to me WHEN I SAY WE ARE ALL BLACK BOYS by Kylan Baker-Thomas www.bruisermag.com/Baker-Thomas_Boys

I was at one time able to withstand copious blows to the soul from a Tekton-brand ball peen hammer. Three poems by Ben Starr www.bruisermag.com/Starr_ThreePoems

i stop digging holes for you and consider how i / may save myself, so shrouded in dirt i swear //my nail beds may never recover. Three poems by @gr8earlofhell.bsky.social www.bruisermag.com/raum_Poems7

Dense are the roads when returning from war My horse is bathed for parade Three horse poems by Jon Conley www.bruisermag.com/Conley_Orse

I don’t know about you, but things are getting rough AND tough in my neck of the woods in 2026. It feels like the world is ending. Here are some things you can do when you have that feeling. @timkabara.bsky.social returns with good advice for hard times in this week’s ANYTHING FOR A WEIRD LIFE ↓

I'm sorry to inform you: Manifest Destiny is this year's number one baby girl name. Enjoy this special broadside preview from BRUISER Zine 010 - FOR ANIMAL USE ONLY: Poems by Arumandhira, available for preorder from the BRUISER shop now ↓ www.bruisermag.com/Arumandhira_Planet

& then we took a wrong turn & wound up on a dead-end road south of downtown WE WERE PULLING OUT OF THE BREWERY & SAW A MAN THROWING SHOES AT THE SIDE OF HIS OWN TRUCK by @juscarts.bsky.social www.bruisermag.com/carter_shoes

“Ahead of its latest installment playing at New/Next, I kept asking around about what the hell Reveries actually was. ‘It’s hard to describe.’ ‘You just have to see it.’ ‘It’s, like, two guys riffing. But trippy.’” @alexlei.bsky.social interviews the trio behind the REVERIES series

Tom’s got a closed fist and he knows how to wrap his knuckles on the door of the man who owns it all. That’s what happens to promoted men. They turn their punches into knocks. But at the end of the day, that fist is all they’ve got. MULES IN PASSENGER SEATS by Cake www.bruisermag.com/Cake_Mules

They say suffering breeds great art and while this year will largely be remembered for layers of bad upon bad, I sense light in the cracks. Baltimore's Christian Best (Smoke Bellow, Crying Laughing, Instant Success, etc.) lays out his favorite music releases of 2025 www.bruisermag.com/best_of2025

I was stunted in many ways, and still am. I keep wanting to run my fingers through the dangly jiggly clean-mess of Kaythi’s hair like a new child would with her new mother. FIXATION by @thoushallkill.bsky.social www.bruisermag.com/san_Fixation

I sent my son to the mayor of the company town. He came back covered in buttons and switches, and when he opened his mouth, insects spilled out: locusts with their wings clipped off. THE COMPANY TOWN by Sarah Klein www.bruisermag.com/Klein_Company

The last night at the original Baltimore location of Wham City was a slam-bang good time. Attendance was strictly limited. I did not have a ticket or anything, but I got in, anyway. @timkabara.bsky.social covers another CD you might have missed, in this week’s ANYTHING FOR A WEIRD LIFE ↓

Every day like a lightning strike The sky with its token purple hair COLLEGE RADIO by Damon Hubbs www.bruisermag.com/Hubbs_Radio

Back in the awesome @bruisermag.com with a surreal/horror flash. www.bruisermag.com/Luntz_Castle

Following the ancient way, he tossed a coin. Heads meant death. Perhaps, far off, in another world, the toss was already decided. THE CASTLE NEVER FORGETS by David Luntz www.bruisermag.com/Luntz_Castle

I was in the kitchen when Lee, the head of the school, came in from the porch holding his flashlight like a club. “Big tits on the side of the highway,” he said. “Not good.” BIG TITS ON THE HIGHWAY by Max Tullio www.bruisermag.com/Tullio_Tits

“Obviously, there’s resonance with acting and forgery.” Devin Morgan talks with Julian Castronovo on DEBUT, OR, OBJECTS OF THE FIELD OF DEBRIS AS CURRENTLY CATALOGUED

they dropped a busload of homers off in santa monica today homers roaming the streets in packs couple dozen homer simpsons at least BUSLOAD OF HOMERS by Bobby Vanecko www.bruisermag.com/Vanecko_Homers

If this ain’t heaven, what the hell is? Three poems by Spencer Eckart www.bruisermag.com/Eckart_ThreePoems

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks… dressed in holiday style. In the air, there’s a feeling of harsh noise. It’s AN EVENING AT ANGEL INN with @timkabara.bsky.social in this week’s ANYTHING FOR A WEIRD LIFE www.bruisermag.com/kabara_weird...

“You can almost smell the meat searing, don’t you think?” Shawn put his nose to the air to play along but smelled only a diaper full of shit worn by the baby in the stroller in front of him. THE MODEL RAILROAD by Jon Doughboy www.bruisermag.com/Doughboy_Railroad

Last week I sold all my things on eBay and they were all bought by different people called Rebecca. I sensed that this meant the veil between the terrene and the firmament was particularly thin at the moment. THE LIVER MAN IS ALSO A VIRGIN by Martha Busfield www.bruisermag.com/Busfield_Liver

bong rip of blown kisses / sundown hoofin / angelic chorus / on repeat ERMM, OK, THAT WAS RANDOM by Louis Packard www.bruisermag.com/Packard_Random

If I searched for the roof long enough, back then I could forget the ground entirely. THE VALLEY by Reese Sterling Alexander www.bruisermag.com/Alexander_Valley

Hey Dewey, Been a minute. You died this past month 30 years ago. You were 19. So was I. An open letter on grief and loss from @timkabara.bsky.social in this week’s ANYTHING FOR A WEIRD LIFE www.bruisermag.com/kabara_weird...

Your ghost is a note on the cupboard. THE-THING-THAT-HAUNTS by katharinetyndall.bsky.social www.bruisermag.com/Tyndall_Thing