by Kevin LeMaster As the sun rises over the fresh red pavement I wonder how long you stood on that high ledge before you decided to take your first flying lesson and if I could have reached you in time Kevin LeMasterKevin LeMaster’s poems have been found at SheilaNaGig online, Flying Island Literary Review, Triggerfish
by Shan Rao My grandmother was learning to die when I was born. Age 56 they say (maybe) no one can be sure, those records not kept carefully. [Lung cancer; cells spoiling.]. In my first memories, I am sitting on her silent bed stacking stuffed bears against the headboard. I have never known my grandmother’s
by James Croal Jackson Mocktails were the catalyst, but we drank greyhound cocktails to tales of your great- grandfather, the activist who jumped in front of a bus at rush hour– we didn’t rush the first night, long after Oddfellows, when I came home into your arms the first time, the last time this would
by LindaAnn LoSchiavo Before my father stops hugging me, before he dries his frosted eyes, before he commandeers my suitcase, I know our agendas are beating different drums, his expectations clouded with denial. Before I arrange her medications, consign the complex sequences of patches, dosages, and Roxanol refills to a spreadsheet, before I gently peek
by Luis Lopez-Maldonado I sometimes can’t really feel feel, my feet the tingling sensation like the white noise on an 80’s TV, I sometimes find little marble-sized balls beneath my brown skin, I push on them, and they hurt doctor says they aren’t cancerous they’re just fat and if they grow and hurt really hurt
by Jong Yun Won It feels good to be relatable. An F in school, meant marks on our calves later, a swan plate of fruit would just appear. We like bubble tea, not Starbz. Beef Pho, AYCE Sushi, the nubby cartilage of chicken feet. No
by Barbara Lawhorn Rattlesnake Gulch. We switchbacked mid, morning, up the sides of Eldorado Canyon. I was high on sunlight, elevation, lack of sleep. Far from home. Hung over from 16 hours in the car, an excess of joy-confusion, the six drinks with and after dinner. One shoulder kissed by carpet burn. We fucked the
INVISIBLE CITIES by Kenton K. Yee A barkeep goes to her therapist, says: I can’t sleep—hypnotize me. So you do and take her to Central Park and fall madly in love. She cuts tail and you’re on your couch rifling through web pages pricing colonoscopies. It’s hopeless. You’re mediocre. Your mother was right. And you
by Brad Rose Like a phantom limb, I pay people to have fun on my behalf. If it’s done right, eventually, you get used to it. Whenever the music is as friendly as a pastel trench of twitching pit vipers, I’m perfectly comfy dancing inside my comfort zone. After all, veterinarians are animals, too. In
by Cynthia Atkins Swung in trees to write notes on a branch, carved her name into the cleft where the bark Y’s into a myriad of decisions. She wrote in the margins between the crumbs and the broom. While she was pickling cucumbers, with the juice and the seeds