Velvet, Mariah Wright The girls are lounging on the side of the road at a wooden stand piled high with Valencias. No one has stopped all morning and it is getting close to two. Laura is lying in…
Complacent Thought, Haley Tatom 1. Lilliana starving is what we’re used to. She says her bones don’t fit right. What kind of bones does a sister need? She wants low hips, paper ribs, big square hands for dancing with…
Ripped, Breanne Sparta you have stripped me down to my tongue root she said it flaps exposed. i will lick the bent rims of your bicycle tires i will lie down flat for the chance to chew…
Bird Balcony, Rebecca Levitan Drummer and bandleader Dave King mouths the word “poem” to his bandmates, indicating “You Can’t Spell ‘Poem in Concrete’”—another clumsily named King original—and the song begins. Guitarist Erik Fratzke strums major chords, bassist Adam Linz…
Fukushima, Takuya Maeda They say that dogs are soulless. Mine sleeps on his side and skitters after rabbits; the limbs of his own knowing stretch and convulse, propelling him bound for bound as he turns on the linoleum,…
My Desires, Margaret Montague What’s it mean, to sit? My sit quits me twenty hours in the day til the sunset pours like sugar from my mouth, I’m a horse and the bit has been took from…
Mushroom Studies, Mary Beth Foehrenbach In the heart of Chianti lies Panzano, a small, charmingly antiquated, unquestionably Tuscan village. One of the inhabitants of Panzano is Dario Cecchini, the most famous butcher in Italy and, arguably, the world.…
Cedar Keys, William Gilpin After an hour of steely sky the locals call night, we’re back on the rapids fishing whorls for sockeyes, but reel in only dollies. Here, northern capillaries of the Kenai triple with every squall…
Ripple Dancer, Kavenaugh Oktavec Nalin wakes to rain drumming on the roof, against the chimney, through the cracks in the walls. She sits up, feeling her bones crack, and breathes. She wonders, briefly, if she’s floated out to…
Brothers, Christine Nicholson Cain’s kiss; the drowned. Family submerged. A photo blurred by stillwater. Three merfolk asphyxiate on the lawn. Shadows drape a dampened dawn. Mother’s face drips down like wax. Father, son, hold streaked hands…
Bugs, Ben Denzer but if it were I would tell you how they right themselves by means of opercula fastened to their feet (foot). How when the world threatens, they first withdraw, then brace themselves against the heavy…
Grandma Jenny, Allison Arkush As children, we worshipped Home, wild and reckless. Armed with markers and crayons, we scribbled manic hieroglyphs on its canvas walls. Relished the soft, flowing pressure of our graffiti. In the kitchen, like a…
If Hair Could Talk, Austin Peterson-Hays [Trigger Warning: Depictions of Dubious Consent/ Sex Between Minors; Underaged Drinking] The first time I saw him I had just turned fourteen and the way he used swear words and carried his backpack on…
Video Stills, Luz Fernandez Think of worst. Think of worry & woolen washer cycles. Think, well, why won’t this cigarette smoke any damn faster? In winter, the wretched knocking of incisors when pea coat, gloves & scarf fail, when fashion finally…
Polski 125, David Diaz They made this Mustang in 1968 and called it a 1969 Fastback. It had none of the special options packaged with it—it was not a Boss, not a Mach I. It was meant to go…
Ingress, Matthew Gallagher [Trigger Warning: Depiction of Car Accident; Death] In a poorly upholstered driving seat, middle age is approaching a quiet, coughing woman much faster than it is her husband because she is a quiet and coughing woman. She…
Winter, Jonathan Agee [Trigger Warning: Graphic Depictions of Animal Dissection; Death Mention] 1. When you peel back the skin of the dead lab rat, it’s like stripping the rind of an orange. You can smell the preservation chemicals, a sweet,…
Riverboat Promenade, Caroline Malouse Pa says the ducks are still here because I’ve been feeding them all our bread. But the truth is they took refuge under our dock during the storm that dripped rain down our walls. He’s…
Ocean, Beatrice Ugolini Even the air is ice- ridden. Locals rehash the sweep of tides flushing out debris, clams freezing in their pitch- gray sandbeds. This wintertime summer home sits dark on its plot. …
Matchstick, Charles Green From a young age I was naïve enough to know I was a genius. All the bored wealthy mothers Of my friends begged me to ski. The girls kissed me on the playground, they…
Man Sleeping on Couch, Occupy Philadelphia, City Hall, PA, Joshua Hopkins [Trigger Warning: Drug Mention] Beau, who lives on my couch, attempts to step out of my car and into waves of heat dancing in the dirt parking lot in front…
My X is an Ape, Lauren West Two women walk into a bar; they are Lilith and Lot’s wife and they are lonesome tonight. You are Lot’s wife and you are still looking back. I have no home, you…