Josh Mahler: Acceptance
by Josh Mahler Acceptance after “When I used to focus on the worries, everybody” by Joanne Kyger If you ask why I don’t fear death, a reason good enough for meis waiting for the kinship of the sun, the light…
Pat Daneman: We Wish No Less For You
By Pat Daneman We Wish No Less for You You have everythingwe could not helpbut leave behind—rough-polished charms,chiseled tools,baskets and clay cupsin pieces or unbrokenas the day they last were filled.Raised up on columnsof stone, in a spacelike a temple,…
Paul Jaskunas: Bound to Happen
By Paul Jaskunas Bound to Happen Nearly every soul I know has hit a deeron this wooded road.A road so dark you cannot seeeven a glimmer of lightin the wall of treesstanding tall along the way. One day our turn…
Jeff Hardin: Tree / Taking Up the Cause of Endearment
By Jeff Hardin TREE The maple having died years ago while a walnutsprang up beside it, inches between them, nowcovered in vines, its own life strangled, the wholemisshapen form leaning south—I could havelong ago taken care of the clump, but…
Mark Burke: Undo the Folds / Listen for the Beat
UNDO THE FOLDS Rain’s syncopated beatdrums the tin roof.Wind pulls back the folds of nightand a voice runs through my head.It’s better to be welcoming,let it land like a birdthat sees it won’t be caught.A towhee swoops down for a…
The First Conceit
Maxx Dempsey The First Conceit Eve discovered Adam had already bit the apple. He had eatenthe whole thing. This was the first lie man told woman.The surprise on his face at the taste of her offering was well put-on,but he…
Revelation
Revelation by Sarah Starr Murphy Her mother named her Margaret, but the name slid off the infant’s greasy, vernix-coated skin. Everyone who loved the child called her Sweet One. Sweet One’s childhood was the rippling hush of barley in a…
Song in the Dark
by Naomi Thiers Song in the Dark Will you take all my youth, yank outevery pearl, leaving me stunned, mouthinga garbled message in the dark? How many friends of my heartare dead now, or their bold strokes dimmed(by you) to…
The Missing Link
————————Cullen McMahon———————— THE MISSING LINK WHEN the doorbell rang, I was in my room pretending to put on a holiday sweater while actually playing my fifth consecutive hour of Super Mario Brothers. In those days I had a Nintendo with…
The Annunciation
___________Jory Mickelson______________ The Annunciation We lived in a world mostlyunlike the world. We didn’t knowthe names of any growing thingamid the marble pillars & porticos& the obelisk of the angel’sruffling wings. In the ruinsof the oligarchs’ harvesting,their alpha & omega…