by Abigail Stewart I. The sky was a lurid orange when Cara awoke. Her television set had turned to static overnight and the alien sun bathed her furniture in a thick ointment of russet light. Somewhere an alarm sounded, relentless and impatient. She rose, ran the water at her kitchen tap. Nothing but a sad trickle, then air. Her mouth Read More
Tag: home
Where My Heart Is
by Allan Lake As a child my whole world was a village in Saskatchewan. Home, school, shop.Long cold winter? One per year as a rule.Upon adulthood I discharged myself. What if my whole world was now EmergencyDept, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia?Electric suns would always shine. White sheetsbut no snow. People would unsoundly sleep and I’d unplug myself before going to Read More
Through the Glass
by Lucy Zhang Everyone lives in a glass box; he calls himself their keeper. The slightly curved glass panes extend up and around them, leaving the Munro’s Globemallow peeking from the side of the walkways and the freshly cut grass and artificial hills in plain view. Sometimes he imagines what they see: can they distinguish the Beaked Yucca from Aztec Read More
Palimpsest
by Lynne Cattafi The boozy neighbor who said it was timeto “get the hell outta Dodge” packed up his car and left,unsentimental.The bumper, flaked and rusted,the muffler backfiringin a final fuck you to the old neighborhood.What’s left behind?A small toy elephant lost years agogathers dust under the radiator.Deep scratches in the worn floor which served as a map,places to avoid Read More
Cement
“Phabian, they’ve already finished the foundation! Why won’t you celebrate with me?” “Because it’s unnatural, you can’t convince me otherwise.” “But Phabian, you agreed. You said you wanted to do this with me.” “No, Jennifer, I said that I loved you and that I’d do whatever would make you happy. At no time did I express a desire to build Read More