by Marilyn Westfall We bought the bed secondhand.Almost good as new, said the formerowner’s son. Used for three days.The frame is heavy as whale bone,the mattress plank firm. It adjustsbut I’m left aching. My mother who rejectsthe mention of assisted livingchose to sleep in her reclinerfacing the TV that plays all nightand spills watery light … Continue reading Cargo
A CraneFolded like origami,The white crane standsKnee-deep in water.Like a metaphor of menWatching for women,The crane watches for fish.Clouds passOver the still, brown water.Egrets and heronsLift their broad wingsAnd bear themselvesPast Spanish moss,Live oaks,And graying wooden docks.Still the crane waits.Then, with the sameSudden, heartless nihilismOf a gun shot,The crane strikes.&Old ChartsThe tea leaves are muddled; … Continue reading Three Poems by David Murphy
Erin Jamieson holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Miami University of Ohio. Her writing has been published in over eighty literary magazines, and her fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She teaches at the Ohio State University. Continue reading Pasta
Audra Burwell is a creative writing major with a strong emphasis on fantasy-themed poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction that covers universal subject matter. Her work has been published by Palaver Journal, Deep Overstock, Carcinogenic Poetry, Snapdragon Journal, Serpentine Zine Literary Magazine, and Superpresent Magazine, as well as appearing on the Do Fiction Podcast. Continue reading Ocean of Sorrows
by Laurinda Lind Early I sat in a circleand nothing fit anything else, orwhat if I werethe extra integer thoughthe room was all right. But someonespilled lyrics loud over speakers.And what if for once I wantedthe words, the first ones later landing last, but was shyto say the story once I stayed at the center … Continue reading The Math
by Austin Okopny Below the city is another city.Below the ground is the air.Below the cockroaches are our childrengambling on a teener for a bonanza of void.Behind the casinos are the vampires.Behind my words are the Eyes of the Dead. Your ears listen in the wind,in the swaying palm trees and in the pigeons.Your noses … Continue reading These Words Are For The Eyes Of The Dead
by Laurinda Lind It is a Covid year and in our townno one has died of Covid, this is a functionof greographic access more thanmutual consideration since no one here wantsto believe that what has come to us has cometo us, after all who says it is a Covid year,only immunologists and don’t they eat … Continue reading Consider The Cause
by Gale Acuff I don’t know when and sometimes I wish Idid so that I could prepare for it but thenat least I know that I will even thoughI don’t know the exact time, and come tothink about it maybe there’s no time atall involved, at least not to me, when Idie that is though … Continue reading Everybody dies, I have to, too, but
by Laurinda Lind Girl in my class in Catholic school,decades later I have a thing to saywhich is sorry. I was an assemblyof anxieties but I think you wereripe for your right life, such asactually study, such as resistoverreacting, such as live inyour lucky neighborhood acrossthe bridge. And the way I wasa hot mess, my … Continue reading A Little Late But Anyway
by Michael Steffen So much leaping and letting go,flicking your wrist to a shadowyou thread line through, lacingsurface to writhing depth,summoning tension. Between rocks,cutthroat and rainbow shelter.Entice the unseenwith a four-count rhythm,slice the air with a gentle arcand let your line lay downacross the back of another world.Retrieve. Repeat. You are searchingfor something shimmering, deepand … Continue reading Fly Fishing
Dream Noir 