by Tracey Loscar The porch is a magical place. It is far and away the best feature of this house. Small and screened in on three sides, it is cool in the morning and fully lit in the afternoon sun. This was by design, as my grandmother loved to read…
by Naomi Ruth Lowinsky We’re in the dark again, on uneven ground, where only shadows know the way. Your breath is my compass; your hand is the North Star. What have we stumbled into? Stag’s skull crowns a tent of bones. We are to sleep here. Remember the stag in…
By Naomi Ruth Lowinsky “I’m a green-and-yellow basket case,” you tell me, shuffling from bathroom to bedroom and back. We lean on each other, laughing. The basket weaver of the stars sent you to me, my green man, my pollen, my salmon leaping upriver. A tisket, a tasket, we’re in…
by Timothy Caldwell Lightning strikes in the distance. He begins counting, “One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four…” Thunder arrives. “The storm is four miles away, Grandpa. That’s what Daddy taught me,” he says. “That’s right,” I say, as the clouds suck more afternoon sunlight…
By Barb Ariel Cohen Traceless sky Much in motion The heart looks forward And close within Clarity everywhere Moves like physics The heart lives lighter Inside the skin Within this moment The universe The still vibration Of time and place The clouds all know this They rise and fade Form,…
by Marc Tretin Because the cake they bought for me had two breasts with cherry nipples, I felt understood by my staff. I was really impressed with its icing, “Welcome Back to Girlhood, And Fuck This Job’s Cheap Health Insurance.” I put two party balloons under my blouse then popped…
By Stephen Monaco Dawn tapped her fingers impatiently on the table, trying to tune out the chaos that reigned on the other side of the sprawling glass windows, PLAY PLACE emblazoned across them. Every scream and squeal from inside knotted her stomach tighter. Thankful to be on this side of…
by Tony Press First there were only six, and then a few more arrived before noon, but the room was far from full. Nils wasn’t shocked at the low turnout but he was disappointed and that surprised him. He had attended so many funerals in the past year, almost always…
By Michael C. Keith Television can have dire effects on the young mind. – George Gerbner In 1954, me and my best friend, Carlos Munoz, would go down to Bailey’s Appliance Store on Foster Street and stand in front of its display window and watch television. My dad said they…
by Daniel Charles Ross Traffic sucked. Traffic always sucks, of course. The worst form of standing in line is in traffic. My little town, a suburb of another already small town, had found a chunk of federal road budget they had to spend or lose it, so they tore up…