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In Memory of Atlas Moon
Marisa Barnard
6502 , Quinn Keck When I was seven years old, I looked out upon a graveyard and read each name written in marble letters. To my horror, I realized I did not know a single one of them. A name on a stone, the only trace of a human that once lived. Someday, I thought,…
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Swimming Lessons
Claire Doll
Baptism, Mia Silvan-Grau I watch my tears trickle into the river. They fit right in, running with the current, salting the summer air, adding to the flow of water coursing forward. There’s something beautiful about that, and if I weren’t crying, I would probably appreciate it more. Above me, the sky stretches for miles. Momma…
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Oceanic Oracle
Summer Hagan
Drum Heads, Kalen Keir after My Octopus Teacher sensesdilate opento a dense depthunknown. assuming a glimmerof indigo, I dance weightless, no bones.a light-patterned seafloor: my personalshow. the semelparous loss who lent me life, youwouldn’t know, as I straddle my assailant to a silver- lined shore. i’ve not enough tentacles to tally my predators. their proportions, overshadowing my den, pervade…
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American
Juan Ortega
Old Man Feeding Birds, Daniel Mrotek What makes an American?Is it the men and women who spend daysworking under the sun, with nothing but a water bottle,whose fingers are blistered and hard with a pain in their back? Their arms growing tired, from carryinga bucket of chiles that’s worth less than a dollar. They close their eyes…
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Orare por ti (I will pray for you)
Juan Ortega
Morning Prayer, Jenny Brum Que dios te perdone y cambie tu menteFor something I am, that I did not chooseAdan y Eva, hombre y mujer es lo que es simplementeI won’t move, please just change your views. Tu eres hombre y casaras con una mujerI am myself, my love life you will not dictateTu no sabes…
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Staring at My Bookshelf
Angela Vodola
Afternoon Tea, Ericka Veliz Sun and moon switch places.I’ve aged, and so have you.Years went by like minutes,as they always seem to do. The open window leaks poison.The foul wind won’t retreat.Air turns bitter with western ash.I breathe it insignificantly. Dried flowers lose full colors.Ancient words lose meaning.I’ve been staring at my bookshelf,never living, only…
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Red Snow
Hobson Wadsworth
Ripped, Breanne Sparta Red snow. School was out for red snow. We were just asleep last night, and out of nowhere, like a late Christmas present, the red snow was everywhere. Me and Dad looked outside at the few people who’d been willing to step out of the comfort and safe normality of their homes.…
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Radium Girls
Gwydion Miller
Geraldine, Tara Piscatelli I’m thinking about those girls again— the ones who painted watch faces to glow in the dark tapering radium-tipped paintbrushes with their lips. Some of them, the creative ones, thought a touch of workplace theft to be a small…
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Scarecrow
Chelsea Anderson
Untitled, Jenny Nguyen The freezing plastic shovel bends at the handle as it penetrates bright red snow. It screeches loudly as it scrapes pale pink matter off the road. He flings it into the woods he covers it in fresh snow he buries you, the pieces of you the ambulance couldn’t carry away. Starving animals …
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離開是為了回來—A CANTONESE LOVE SONG
Ethan Luk
Volatile, Anna Koeferl The house is on fire,And I’m not leaving yet. I’m not going to save the cat lying next to the split star fruit.Or the two origami cranes on the banister. I’m not going to save you, either. For you look most untouchable Asleep: body embalmed in the crocheted blanket. Outside, your flannel is…
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To the Zombie at the Intersection of Starbucks and Dollar Tree
Alexis Noe Ocegueda
Afterparty 2, Mandi Vivacqua No, not the one drowned in rainbows of paint and ink at every footstep No, not the one that has their jaw hanging on for dear life at their knees Yes, you, the one bashing their head against the light post mimicking the moths in your mouth Who leaves a trail…
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We Have Nothing If Not Time
Chelsea Panameño
Throwback, Abigail Jackson The heatwave was announced the day before the solstice, the day after my brother and I arrived at our mother’s summer home. We did what we thought we should do, based on a few vague Internet searches and a glance at local news warnings. We turned the window unit up as cold as…
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Sitting Under Starry Skies
Claire Doll
Winter, Jonathan Agee The parking lot of my old high school looked the same, even in the dark of winter. It was haunting to see the building lit up only by streetlights, to watch the December winds toss forgotten autumn leaves on the gravel, to be the only parked car in the lot. Lacey had…
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Laurel in Full Bloom
Chelsea Panameño
Into the Ether, Nicky Meaux The bark appeared on the first day of spring, when the winds were starting to pick up, but the worst of the rain had not yet begun. It started as a small thing: a rough, brown patch on her wrist, hardened like a scab. Daphne frowned, but it didn’t hurt,…