ODESSA IKELS
Claire crouched in the cool wet sand, marveling at how the topwater surrounded the sides of her feet, small sandals abandoned behind her. The ocean roared in her left ear, cliffs invading her peripheral vision as she examined the place where the water meets the shore….Continue Reading Wash
Tag: ’28
The Tree
KIDANE PINCUS
The Tree stands atop a knoll amidst rolling, grassy fields; yet no grass grows upon it, its slopes bare and lifeless even in vibrant heights of golden summer. Its roots reach deep into the soil, worming their way through soft wet earth like eels, and its thick pale trunk rises high into the cloudless sky, its bark smooth and unblemished…Continue Reading The Tree
Ways to Keep Your Flowers Fresh
JENNIFER CUI
Memory of the pencil portrait merged with the bust standing in front of me now, alabaster, white as snow. I reached out and touched the bridge of his nose, then the corner of his eyes, lightly, as if the heat of my hands would melt him away. …Continue Reading Ways to Keep Your Flowers Fresh
even evergreens can rot
VARSHA PALANIYANDY
Zeus—the crime boss, not the actual god—was arrested. His terrifying reign over non-demigods, of taking, taking, taking from everything and everyone under his thumb, was no more….Continue Reading even evergreens can rot
Sempervirens
JUDE TAIT
A small child weeps as parents bury a bunny in the backyard. Hastily planted petunias stand vigil under a clouded sky as the tiny body disappears beneath the earth. The child can still feel the warmth of the bunny’s belly, can still smell the familiar comfort of its fur. …Continue Reading Sempervirens
Ithaca
AIDAN CAHILL
Someone jabs their thumb out on the side of the road. Olive green headband. Wicked shades. Early 20s, she’d be a model in New York, just a drifter out here. Who is she, anyway? Should be a bigger deal than this ragtag hippie straight outta Woodstock….Continue Reading Ithaca
Closing Time
HARRY FINNEGAN
He asks this of the short man with the long cue stick. This man has the long cue stick but it is currently leaning against the pool table. His hands are already occupied by an empty pint. The beer is in his stomach. There is no beer left. …Continue Reading Closing Time
Tell Me Again
AYANA ALLES
It is a strange thing, when a lifetime of memories consolidates into the tiles and sheets of a hospital room. The world narrows to white walls and blue curtains, beeps and cries, a persistent chemical stench. It’s not like there are gaping holes in my mind. It is more like: I do not know what is gone. Who is gone. I cannot miss them, so I do not feel an ache for their loss. Until they visit me. …Continue Reading Tell Me Again
I Still Can’t Swim
AMAYA RANATUNGE
“I don’t know how to swim.” / “I’ll teach you.” // Water weaving through my hair, / soft and steady, / Blurring the edges of the world. / Lilies brushing my skin / faint and silk, / singing melodies of the dawn. / Moss coiling ‘round my fingers, / cool and warm, / pulsing quiet beneath the touch….Continue Reading I Still Can’t Swim
Like Kublai Khan
TOBY ROSEWATER
I still remember how I got the tricycle. I was about seven years old. My parents gave it to me for Christmas in 2007. The night before, snowfall and freezing rain had iced the streets, giving the roadways a shiny glare as if God himself had paved them with aluminum….Continue Reading Like Kublai Khan
Winter
DARBY REDMAN
I am surrounded by clumps of trees, barren and apathetic. We walked this path when we were young, the sun spotting through trees and bees bumbling along the flowers….Continue Reading Winter
Haircut
SARAH GOLDSCHMIDT-HOPKINSON
You look different. This time your hair is [red / pink / blonde] and I love it. You are [as beautiful as the last time I saw you / as beautiful as the last time I saw you / as beautiful as the last time I saw you].
…Continue Reading Haircut
Snapshots of Dust
BRADY KIM
I visited my father’s house last week. I straightened the picture frames on his nightstand, the glass caked with so much grime and filth that you couldn’t even make out the picture. I swept the dust from the lonely halls, the wallpaper cracking and peeling at the top so it cast a shadow across the wall when you turned on the buzzing yellowish lights….Continue Reading Snapshots of Dust
The Game Room
By TOBY ROSEWATER
Peeling floral wallpaper covers every corner of the senior center’s game room, wilting like an unfurling flower come springtime. The room holds five round tables, and every Sunday, the Austin senior card group fills every seat. …Continue Reading The Game Room
Growing Pains
By FEDORA LIU
So sugary sweet / It rotted my teeth // Back then there were boundless pools of sap here / I thought I would never go hungry // I thought I would live forever….Continue Reading Growing Pains
There Are Many Ways to Starve
VARSHA PALANIYANDY
When Malin threw open a trapdoor in a condemned warehouse’s floor and ordered Rani to get in, she wondered – again – how her life had gotten so covert in mere months….Continue Reading There Are Many Ways to Starve
A TOAST TO AVARICE
MYLES KAPLAN
Looking up, the splendid clamor of
silver utensils……..
…Continue Reading A TOAST TO AVARICE
NATURE WALK
AIDAN CAHILL
One minute, sunlight. The next, and rain poured in sheets through the trees…….Continue Reading NATURE WALK
Dearest
JENNIFER CUI
Dearest,
I’ve been thinking a lot lately; my life, your life – us, the world….
…Continue Reading Dearest
Red Cap
KIDANE PAIK
Once upon a time there was a little girl named Red Cap. She lived with her mother and father in a little village on the edge of the Red Forest….Continue Reading Red Cap