by Sudeep Adhikari the wet triangles, sliding down the slant of liquid maroons they look at me, with the eyes of the black-hole love i can’t see what is in there, expect for the blood of nothingness, an absence batshit drunk pegged against the sine waves of wooden erections, carefully…
by Lisa Harris A cell interconnects. Sand dollars, starfish and sea urchins, tube footed burrowers—cousins all— traveling slowly, blurred and muted. Echinodermata, Echinozoa, Echinoidea— anciently called sea hedgehogs. These spiny round algae eaters try to avoid sea otters, starfish, wolf eels, and triggerfish, predators all. . In 1891, Hans Driesch experimented…
by Jane Finlayson Nicky peels the skin off the chicken in one slick move, like she’s undressing some squirmy little kid before it makes a getaway. “Stay put, you twisted bag of bones,” she hisses, holding the bird upright and slapping onion halves and rosemary into the cavity before wrestling…
by Amy Covel We’re pale white Tonight Like ghosts Haunting the graves Of the places We’ve stayed Forced to conform To the order To which we were born You and I are bound Forever Two ghosts together Our untimely deaths Stole away our breaths But didn’t deliver us From the…
by Frank Richards James had just stepped into the kitchen when he heard the garage door opening. His wife, Jan, must have returned from the auction. She was always good at finding overlooked treasures at auctions. He wondered what she’d bought this time. Jan came into the kitchen through the…
by Christian Linville When Anna received the wedding invitation from her best friend in late spring, she felt a wave of nostalgia. She recollected Katy’s young, beautiful face. She thought of the stale classes and shared angst of their last days of high school. The elegant calligraphy and formal wording…
by Mary Waugaman No. I used this word on purpose. No is definite. No is final. Words are power and I choose mine carefully. Which is why I said No. But you don’t respect my No. You don’t hear my No. Whether I have allowed it too long or you…
by Sarah Odishoo I learned that day on the corner of Wabash and Madison on an overcast spring afternoon what I couldn’t have discovered in any other way. I can recall it every time I think of him, the el train’s whining cutting the air open behind our backs, the…
by Frank Scozzari The icy water had been rising steadily for an hour now, and despite her best efforts, Ingrid could no longer hold on. The waterline had breached her chest and then her shoulders and then her chin. Then the force of the water, a thousand pounds of pressure…
by Tahseen Béa “This is where I feel it.” Layla said to her husband of two years. “Place your foot on my knee.” He said. Layla placed her bare foot on his knee. He held his foot and touched her ankle, examining the skin and bones of her thin ankle….