Category: Spring 2017 Issue
Dateline Sasabe, AZ: US-Mexico Border
by Joe Richey At the international line high–noon cool 100 degree day east of Sasabe, Arizona, pissing in the sizzling sand I burned hand
In the middle of the spelling quiz
by Mark Melnicove In the middle of the spelling quiz, JFK died. The announcement by our principal, an old man who could barely stand anymore,
Dust under the bed
by Mark Melnicove Dust under the bed lies unmoving without complaint. I have to get on my hands and knees to see it, the vacuum grumbling for a
Don’t chew
by Mark Melnicove Don’t chew on plastic soldiers! my mother shouted, ripping them from my mouth, they’ll make you sick! she warned, leaving me
Fireflies
by Stephen Cramer We could have borrowed beads from our parents’ dresser tops or peeled faux mother of pearl buttons from our sweaters, but
Subway
by Stephen Cramer Steel lemmings, they follow one another as they’d grown accustomed to all those years, the old New York City subway cars hauled
Ate -ba-na-na-too-dah-lah
by Stephen Cramer This is the liquid mantra that the woman in the bespangled mumu repeats every three & a half breaths, practically singing
Shattered
by Bryce Milligan I’ve seen mezzo sopranos shatter glass and wondered how this high A–flat that sings — an octave above my guitar’s last
Finger of the Goddess
by Bryce Milligan I took the finger of the goddess, broke it from her statue in the shadows cast by years so dim now they cannot be told from
Sowing in the Snow
by Bryce Milligan The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind. — Emily Dickinson Deep in this