BEA AGBI
I didn’t want the mango. I didn’t / want it I was full Just let me have a bit / but my mother said no bites, / peeling and putting it / into my hands, yellowredgreen soft / and malleable in its ripeness, eat / the whole thing. …Continue Reading Mango
Tag: '26
In Lieu of Language
MADI SUH
in lieu of language, / i stuff my mouth. / i do not know how to say the words for all the banchan. / i only know how to eat, / how to be hungry, how to ask for more….Continue Reading In Lieu of Language
Bringing
LILA SCHLISSEL
She will bring me gifts / teeth and black licorice lips cradling some / bird / with hollow bones / and lay / it / in my lap / unscathed, if confused / and / covered in a little spit…Continue Reading Bringing
Honey Cake
KATERYNA HAVRYSHCHUK
The oldest among them, Ryta lit the match. In a blink, gas swallowed the heat and burped out a blue holo around the burner. A piece of butter in the pan began to soften. A clump of honey, however, didn’t rush to lose shape.
…Continue Reading Honey Cake
Bite-Size
WILLOW DELP
She is seventeen years old, and she has mastered the art of cruelty. She brings people close enough, lures them with her sweetness — her fair skin, her honeyed voice. She emanates not just a sort of radiance…Continue Reading Bite-Size
Teatime
VENUMI GAMAGE
Ginger tea to cure a cold. Ginger tea with a heaping of honey to fix a sore throat…….Continue Reading Teatime
Fragment #2 (Lysis)
By AIDAN COOPER
You river your fingers, / I dip my toes in, water us // until lotus flowers ring / the space between our knuckles….Continue Reading Fragment #2 (Lysis)
One More Bite
OLIVIA KELLER
Every day is the same. / Wake up, go to class, do work, go to bed. / Like clockwork – tirelessly stuck in a loop going tick by tock. / Boredom sets in and my thoughts wonder….Continue Reading One More Bite
A Christmas (Eve) Story
CRAWFORD DAWSON
It was freshly Christmas Eve, about two hours into the newly born day. In my memory, it was snowing, but a piece of me now doubts that….Continue Reading A Christmas (Eve) Story
Gouda-locks and the Three Éclairs
LAINEY NOGA
Long ago, in a world untouched by the erosion of decorum, Gouda-locks, a young pastry chef…….Continue Reading Gouda-locks and the Three Éclairs
REMEMBERING…SNACK TIME
SOFIA AHMED SEID
There was once an interlude in our days we called snack time……..Continue Reading REMEMBERING…SNACK TIME
STANDING IN THE DOOR
ELIZA BECKER
On Sundays I work the eleven to seven shift and see Louie…..Continue Reading STANDING IN THE DOOR
It Will Rain
JORGE RODRIGUEZ JR
Did it rain last night? No, but it probably will today…
…Continue Reading It Will Rain
Peanut Butter
AIDAN COOPER
Where the chunks notice childhood / behind the awning of our mouths. How we’re domesticated dogs / with teeth sharp only for peanut butter. / Move me to the place you learned the crust carries …Continue Reading Peanut Butter
Dear Diary
MADI SUH
these days all my thoughts have begun to feel like letters to you / sometimes it hurts to think. talking to you is easier. / and so, / hi. / i have not been creative as of late. / lately you have begun to take residence inside some part of me; in particular, you do spend a lot of time in my head. / hi….Continue Reading Dear Diary
Tell me if you’ll answer, and I’ll remember how to ask
NICOLE ITKIN
When I reach out, what am I reaching– / for? / (my) / Flowers blearily / stare out the windows, / Orchids: at midnight, red-robed
They kiss
the glass, lips pursued,
smudging the Clear
they’ll forget about;
Soothing,
forgetting…Continue Reading Tell me if you’ll answer, and I’ll remember how to ask
to an evergreen who is me written by a self of mine far from here
AIDAN COOPER
there is no way to get you, not / really. // there is only marble column in rippling bloodstain — / the leaves are clattering, you clutch your breath and your coffee…Continue Reading to an evergreen who is me written by a self of mine far from here
Red
SHREYA HEGDE
A Jet moved across the sky / a Meteor to hit the Sun awry, / yet it escaped unscathed / saving the Sun’s fate!…Continue Reading Red
This place and the other
MADI SUH
It was on the corner of Wilder on the way to the 7-Eleven / that you first stopped me in my tracks, and I didn’t notice / the car that would have killed me…Continue Reading This place and the other
Disappear
KAELA LIU
The five senses: touch, taste, sight, hearing, smelling. These five senses make up how we perceive the world. As we grow up, we accumulate experiences. …Continue Reading Disappear
To Rot
WILLOW DELP
To rot is to join the raspberries in my fridge (so sweet, so short-lived.) To rot is to resist preservation; to be boldly, maddeningly temporal. …Continue Reading To Rot
Unpeel
VENUMI GAMAGE
The edges of my mind are lifting up — / there’s dust and dirt settled in so no matter how hard / I press and smooth my fingers over the peeling perimeter, nothing I do will…Continue Reading Unpeel
The Great War
SYDNEY WILLIAMS
Before the Great Self War of Identity, there was simply Sydney. As a young girl, I was an avid reader. I loved getting lost in the worlds of stories and following the adventures of young heroines. …Continue Reading The Great War
A Tick
SYDNEY L. HARRIS
Eyes snap open, gazing up at a white ceiling. You breathe in and out deeply. INHALE EXHALE INHALE EXHALE INHALE EXHALE. It came again — the dream….Continue Reading A Tick
Space for Decay
SOFIA AHMED
I had to be called home, then dragged when I didn’t comply, to eat something. I was too happy, too alive, how was I supposed to remember that I needed food when I was this content? …Continue Reading Space for Decay
Voided
RANIA ADOUIM
As a kid, I used to lock myself in the bathroom and try to imagine what death was like…..Continue Reading Voided
I Wanna Show You Someone
JORGE RODRIGUEZ JR
Their father threw a faded quilt in the middle seat where Ulysses would sit. Ulysses developed the habit of wetting himself when he felt the slightest urge to go. …Continue Reading I Wanna Show You Someone
How to Fall in ROT
GRACE ESCOE
I am not ashamed / That I have not known much intimacy / That I never had a hand that fit the curvature of my own / That I never had someone whisper my name…Continue Reading How to Fall in ROT
Falling Apart
EMILY WYKOFF
Will this love die if unattended? / Abscising our petals, like peonies decaying / Feed for squirrels and worms and everything else / That wants to eat us alive …Continue Reading Falling Apart
Paralyzed Pole
ELIZA BECKER
Korris winced at the scissors’ first zip. Her ear had never been nicked while having her hair cut professionally, but she felt it to be probable, inevitable…Continue Reading Paralyzed Pole