by Hibah Shabkhez “Elephants never do homework.” “Elephants never wear mittens.” “Elephants never wash their—” “What’s going on here?” I asked, taking in the gigantic baby-pink elephant freshly taped to the fridge, and the other, even larger one which was being filled in with a concentration and vigour only a six-year-old artist could possess. “After mermaids, dolphins and seagulls, the Read More
Tag: child
Rebel-sound
by Philip Berry Amy, 11, couldn’t know how the day would end. In the sharp metallic hour as the first train rolled in, ideas danced and hope thrummed. While thickening rivulets of opinion moved calmly among the city’s sand-blasted flanks and reflective skins, father could not see what the streets held. Nor could mother sense the rising threat, her gaze Read More
class: aves; kind: unknown
by Ahimaz Rajessh the bird that swoops downtearing through noxious clouds,being no bird of prey, lives onlyon chemical, nuclear wastes. the beats of its wings, they say, changethe course of impending cyclones.its beak digs through containers shippedfrom global north, buried in global south. its breath lights up spying glo-geodrones & electromagnetic spectrum.the whiff of its feather, they say,brings to mind Read More
child
by Iolana Paedelt cut me with your liesandlet me bleed out,drown in red blood-as i sinkdown,deeper into the dark abyss,still thinking that it’s love,when all you want issee me chokeon your darkness,so you can breathe. i asked you to stay.i said“you don’t have to leave.”you gave me all your words,your promises,and did it anyway.now i don’t know what is more Read More
Alone on the Bus
by MJ Christie One ear. One eye. Tattered arms. Tattered legs. Re-sutured seams preserved the life within. Ground-in dirt rouged his cheeks. There was an odour your mum had tried to wash away without success. “Shall we leave Ted at home today?” “No.” You hugged him to your chest. He loved riding the bus. Mum gave in, as always. If Read More
What if Narcissus
by Hannah Storm What if Narcissus had been a father and not a lover What if Echo had been your child and not your vaunted lover,would you still have been doomed to sit by that pond,reflect your wrongs, your own face, or would you only see your Mini-me? Sweet child of yours, when God mademan in his own image, he Read More
How You Belong in the World
by James Diaz You can find lacewings on warm nightstaking away what we don’t wantfeeding on aphid honeydewmicroscopic antlions clearing the fieldslike mommas with bad brainstossing babies into dumpstersby the freeway at night but I wonder, in our kingdom,who gets to decide that sort of thingwho among us is wantedand who just gets tossed to the bottomof the satchel even if Read More
Ludicrocity
by Guy Elston A child is prostrate, head on the grass,wailing in an all-consumed fury.His parents stand over him at the edgeof the public golf course wheredogs get walked, his dad holding a knotted plastic bag lump, his Mum a Gucci handbag.They make no attempt to halt his cacophony.Other walkers titter at the sightof the hysterics and the silent resignation.I Read More
IVF
by Anuja Ghimire Agnes left the prayer hall before the pianist returned to her seat and the happy people who stood up to applaud the middle-aged woman noticed. She needed to wash the baby’s face from her eyes. Sharon had carried him like a prize. He wiggled his feet near the sparkling water, looked at Agnes, and smiled. And Sharon Read More
Mujer y Mono (Woman and Monkey)
by Elisabeth Horan 1938 Nothing should end this violently:Baby monkeys slide in and out Of their madres – like the slippery pea podsSo gently – The wind sabe como tocar (the wind knows how to touch)A woman’s cheeks As if they could break her openHack easily at the insides of a body So permanently destroy her –But they do not. Read More