by Russell Rowland Sketchy is the restroomin this ramshackle arcade—almosta closet, dark—still, she has to go.Granddaughter, eight, insistsGrampy accompany her. I do— softened at her own wayof being those years young, her faiththat an elder man, retired,unremarkable, divorced, can causethe world to seem a safer place. Once we’re both inside,…
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 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 Gonzalinho da Costa A theory works until you try it out. A theory corrected by experience is no longer a theory. Wisdom is life experience applied to well-considered judgment. Darkness arises from the absence or deficiency of light, obscurity from its excess. Religion…
by Lisa Harris Hijacked— shadows recede and light breaks open in a sunrise and later dissolves on the horizon as it sets. Light shatters when a bulb falls on the floor at our feet. Shards are swept beneath a rug. They work their way through fabric to cut the feet…
by Don Mager Fourteen days away on business else- where, sunset is back at work pouring spot-lit white across all the backside windows of each hill slope house. Inside, floors and walls are puddled. The puddles shift and shrink. Outside, the saturated trees blaze in Boric Acid shimmers and green flames. Sun’s…
by Nicole Hill Your nimble fingers reach for the volume control as Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” rolls off the radio announcer’s tongue and enters our ears a second too late across the transmission of a radio wave. Your foot gently taps on the break pedal, the rosary beads…