by Jennifer Schallehn I am 22 and I have just given birth to my first child,a daughter. I run across a photo in a drawer.In it, I am 14. I have just fished the runof a musical, which I have danced in and choreographed.My arms are around two of my…
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Wanderer
by C.S. Hanson No one is watching. Sometimes it feels like I’m in my own dream. My body wandering among the rooms of this apartment. Here in the living room, I rotate pillows on the two sofas. I move the patterned blue-and-gold ones to opposite ends of the light-blue sofa….
The Couple
by Fathiya Alalawi She wanted her husbandto forever be a lionand so, created mythsabout his might.He’s in his seventies,and she misses the dayswhen he was roaring.Now, he barelystretches and yawnsin front of the TV–his favorite den–and she roars at himout of frustration.She misses the dayswhen he was troublingthe whole town.Now,…
Skins
by Emma-Rive Nelson The night was very dark, and very cold, and Lars was waiting in the dunes as the stars shivered into existence up above. His eyes were slow to adjust in the dim, frigid light, but he had spotted what he was looking for–a little bundle folded neatly…
So Sweet
by Jennifer Schallehn (This poem contains domestic abuse.) Your homeboy asked what you liked best about me,and you answered,“She does what I say do.”I’ve got news for you.I did what every boy said to do.I was born to it,laid out for my first baby picturesa welcome mat in rosebuds and…
Wrestling Heidegger
by Nina Schuyler I’m watching Woody Allen’s movie, The Purple Rose of Cairo, again. Tom Baxter has just stepped out of the film and waltzed right into the darkened, popcorn-infested theater. Picture gum under the seats, on the floor. Mia Farrow, who has been in a lovely trance watching Baxter…
Controlled Burn
by Cynthia Good Then it sparked into flame, Christmas in the fire pit, a burst three times the size when it stood in the den festooned in bows, the Fraser Fir— a shooting spiral of tangerine light. What should we burn next? you ask. Let’s burn…
The Superhero Reaches Adolescence
by Ken Poyner You would never imagine how truly awkward this cape is. It is standard schlock for a superhero, so I use it. You would not expect a man who could deftly see through stone, deflect both dull lead and classy copper clad bullets, and bend-without-breaking riotous egg shells…
New Year’s Day
by Cynthia Good So long cell tower dish sneaking inthe bedroom window, so longto saying thank you to taxi doorsheld open to slide across sticky seats.So long to dragging our bodies into roomswhere we don’t want to go, into argumentsthat aren’t our own. So long to tryingnot to wake the…
Midwestern Nice
by Khristy Knudtson The Midwest region of the United States garners a reputation that is unlike any other. Wisconsin, where I have lived all of my life, embodies airs of apologetic pleasantries in almost every interaction. This concept of “Midwestern nice” is a pervasive descriptor of the Midwestern people—it defines…