Home Is by Christian Barragan
Day 1A youthful barista bounces at the register, overlooking the meager clump of customers eyeing the menu. A strange concoction of emotions wells within her, wondering if it’s appropriate to be angry at the ones responsible for her hours. They are, after all, outside. Suddenly she’s glad her family stayed…
A Peculiar Count in Time, Part 2 by M.K. Beutymhill
Click here to read Part 1. Rochester, New York, United StatesApril, 1885Isabella Cooper-Oakley, age 31 I had suspected, upon finally meeting Giovanini, that I would have left feeling somehow disappointed, but the more we interacted, the more he made peculiar allusions, the more his dark eyes twinkled at John and…
Lazy Days by Jason de Koff
The klaxon of cicadasRing in the sultry summerThe ebb and flow of buzzesDeep, dank bayou moistureMake dinosaurs reappear. The light is bentOn paths of mysteryThat shape the shadowsCreating new colorsAnd soaking the vibrant scene. From above, a green paradiseWith velvet carpet flaresBelow, an epic steam boxHung with clouded conspiracySenses warring…
To an Inhabitant of Çatalhöyük by Lucy Whitehead
A room sunken now and hollowed out,my bare feet rest on the cool grey clayof your plastered house, as bronzedbodies move in a dance of trowelsin the spaces where you once lived. I am trying to decipher the peeling blood red fragments of your art, hunting for bull and deer, leg and…
Love and Alzheimer’s by Anannya Uberoi
We keep sipping on crystalware, tumblers coffee mugs,pitchers, kettles – cafésthese days are creative withcrockery. You like blue andgreen colored drinks, I likepale stalks popping out ofmouths of wine bottlessplitting into tiny tendrilsbetween us – the pothos plantthrives on neglect. I keepforgetting to pick one up forthe kitchen, and you areundecided; forget me…
Salem, 1692 by Merril D. Smith
I tremble —there is evil about,specters and demons,but I must remain resolute,stand with the other magistrates and judges,all men of property and esteem,surely, we must be among the elect. This affliction has spread through the region,so many blackened with devils’ marks–though their blood is red(their master teaches them tricks). Accused,…
SS St. Louis, 1939 by Merril D. Smith
At sea, adrift between worlds,one of terrorone of hope, we travel, nine hundred of us,borderless, in transit,from beating, burning, and a thousand indignities. But here, the mustached man’s portrait is flipped over;we try to forget what is and what might be,we try not to think about those left behind. With…
Screaming/Laughing by Rickey Rivers Jr.
Screams of excitement often sound like anguish.I wish this not to be the case. People cheering at funerals, screaming at parties, pain at the wedding, laughs at the blood. It happens often Smile inside.Scream outwardly. Children giggle out the womb keeping their parents up at night. Jokes make hollers and…
Secrets in the Poison by Kat Devitt
Mabel waited in the corridor crumpled on the floor, as crumpled as the taffeta of her wedding dress. She pressed her back against the wall for certainty, wanting to merge with the wood. Rivulets streamed down her cheeks onto her netted veil. She stared ahead at the wallpaper’s print, fixated…
The Barrister’s Ballade in Oompa Loompish by Kristin Garth
“So I shipped them all over here, every man, woman, and child in the Oompa-Loompa tribe. It was easy. I smuggled them over in large packing cases with holes in them, and they all got here safely.” Roald Dahl, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory The Oompa-Loompa finally free, we litigate because of TV. Smuggled in luggage breathing…
Take Us On A Journey To Somewhen
