Popcorn, Karlen Lambert [Trigger Warning: Depictions of mental illness and gore, brief racist language] 2                 At least twice a week I drive either to, or from Red Wing, Minnesota, from     Lauderdale. This takes just over sixty minutes. I call this my Crying Commute. After I pass the exit for Treasure Island Casino, as my old…

Into the Ether, Nicky Meaux       In the 1940s and 1950s, the splatters and color fields of Abstract Expressionism became the predominant American art form. Regarding the movement, Clement Greenberg proclaimed, “If American Society is indeed given over as no other society has been to purposeful activity and material production, then it is…

Collection, Mary Hitchings   I can’t breathe– like paper cuts behind my eyelids I cough up banana peels every time I kill a spider. I miss laughing and the jingle of dog tags. No one plays the piano anymore.     About the Author Carol McCarthy · University of Iowa Carol McCarthy is from Downers…

Untitled, Sam Youkilis [Trigger warning: Graphic discussion of sex] I was sneaky and I was in love.  I was old enough to have a crappy job and some spending money, but young enough to live without sleep.  Night after night, I would tiptoe out of my mother’s house after calling for a taxi.  Mom’s place…

Kelpa, Justine Stewart [Trigger warning: graphic body horror] They made their nest in the nook of her neck. It was a Tuesday, if she remembers correctly, when she first noticed it. As the days passed, the nest began to pulse until, finally it burst and the bugs came crawling out in their sticky green glory.…

Impact, Heather Thornton       Autumn shuns Niagara Falls; it always has. The cold water has always been cold, The bare trees have always seemed bare, The ground is usually hard-packed with primordial permafrost, And daylight savings is a lie, for there has never been any daylight to save.   We stand in our…

Dreamscape II, Meagan Dwyer [Trigger Warning: brief mentions of abortion, depictions of child abuse, eating disorders, graphic medical depictions, brief ableist language] “If you could have any superpower, what would it be?” Mike asks. “Superpower?” Art’s brow wrinkles. “What, like x-ray vision or something?” “Yeah, man. Like Spiderman, or Superman. Something like that.” “Ah.” Mike…

Emerge, Meagan Dwyer [Trigger Warning: mentions of abuse] For the daughter of someone who loves, it was always easier to break bread. White velvet wrapped around and you walked on thick revelry. The cold pews penetrated my thin dress. Hymns beat stale smells between my thighs and as a child I tried to picture a…

Look Up, Brandon Mark [Trigger Warning: brief mentions of drug use] Kid He tripped. His name was Jason and he tripped over his shoes that were too big. His brother had given him shoes when Jason’s finally disconnected at the souls. He didn’t have any money, his brother was gone, and his cat gave him…

The Depression, Ann Mangano   In the kitchen, Manprit chopped a yellow onion into long, thin strands. She pushed the pile off the cutting board and into a bowl with her knife, and started on the next one. She felt the tears slide down her cheeks and settle beneath her chin. The onions, somehow, after all…

Rain Room, Shana Joseph [Trigger Warning: mentions of suicide] Winter 1 Wake up. Freezing. Groggy eyes. Roll over. A fog of ice crystal formed on the window last night. It is wide open. Shiver. Something is wrong. I can’t remember what, but the pit in my stomach pulls. I reach for the fleece blanket but…

Girl in the Wings, Chloe Ella Urbanczyk [Trigger Warning: Mention of animal hunting] After we’ve shot the swallows from the sky I tell you of the coast you’ve forgotten, memories turned legend, migrating inwards. I am the gluttony learned by leeching the ocean, all swallow bones and winter. Wait with me as I sift through…

The Standpoint of Daily Life, Sarah Loreth [Trigger Warning: depictions of sexual harassment, mentions of violence and death] I was riding the 81, just cruising down Fig, mentally stripping this blue-haired girl four rows ahead. She was maybe twenty five. I couldn’t tell whether her eyes were open or closed. In those days, I liked…

Still Air, Shareefah Pereira     It was almost 2:00 a.m., the latest I’d stayed up in years, when I pinched the bridge of my nose and pushed the heels of my hands into my crinkled eyes. I knew I couldn’t yet. It’d been poetry for hours, but I knew I couldn’t. My heart pushed…

Interlocked, Roma Rarikh     Vivienne warns that the red is too dry. You cannot stomach this, she says. He says, that’s a risk I’ll take. The restaurant is small, pleasant even. The velvet curtains draping the slightly cracked window shield them from the setting sun, but not from the breeze. She welcomes the warm…

Popcorn, Karlen Lambert   I   (White Sands)     I remember the motorcycle gang At White Sands— They pawed the dust Searching for something they couldn’t yet speak of In the data fields of Western Texas   They traced a scent in their mirrors And in the chrome of their tailpipes —A long ride into…

Still Life in Blue and Yellow, Haley Cormier     The Sonoran desert is beyond reason. More than anything else, it is a scene stolen from the apocalypse: tan, craggy rock blooming with poisonous scrub; red dirt that is discernable from rock only in color; laugh lines of wire running parallel to whip scars of asphalt.…

Golgi, Soren Carlson-Donohue [Trigger Warning: depictions of violence and gore] Trout 1 About 1,300 Words Copyright 2014 James A. Trout. 5800 West Friendly Ave. Greensboro NC, 27410 [email protected] Secret Meeting Notes by James A. Trout Meeting Notes from the Guilford College Secret Council meeting. Date: [REDACTED] Chairperson: Allison Crosby III, Director of the Ancient Deities.…

Ferguson, Teresa Bedzigui     Where I am is a place Where lemon water tributaries Empty into ethylamine oceans. I bought a new scarf today (it is below zero, where I am) and I tied it tight around my bedpost and ankles. The Andes are at my left, los Ojos del Salado seething at me,…

Chalkboard, Brendan Hunt [Trigger Warning: brief depictions of animal abuse] I am sitting outside of my middle school, clutching my phone in my hand. I am feverish. I clutch my chest tightly, breathe deeply, and a roll of mucus runs down onto my lips. I sniff it back it up. I dial my mom’s number. “Hey,…

Wave, Selena Kim   1 He fed us silver in the attic again.   All afternoon our blonde stomachs dreamt of rain.   Grandpa said we’d left the door open.   First the dog ran in, and then water filled the house.   We stayed in the attic, vomiting silver.   2 Eating Silver in…

Volatile, Anna Koeferl [Trigger Warning: Depictions of homophobia] Mesquite Smoke  The Zozobra’s limbs are listless, his empty head staring out above the mass of people. Lorena pulls Christine through the crowd away from the smell of the mesquite pyre. Wait, I want to see it, Christine protests. Lorena’s grip tightens but Christine slips away. Lorena…