in a Jacksonville hotel

by Haley Morgan McKinnon this morning I wake up and I am strongerthere is sunlight through the window and I open my mouth to drink itmay it turn into new breath in my lungs I fluff the pillows that I almost tore apart last night in the grip of my grief like a snakeclutching the life from its prey except Read More

Uncle

by Ross Jeffery The carpet’s rough. Its bristly nibs bite into my skin. Can’t breathe, my father splayed out on top of me, his full weight baring down, choking the oxygen from my lungs. Muscles burn, cramp throttles my calf, a snake coiling around a tree trunk. But still he pushes me to the carpet. Sweat covers us. We are Read More

The Last Waltz

by Steven John We found each other late in life, in the most fateful way. Two lonely people. Paths crossed. ‘The Last Waltz’ she called us. I’d meet her off the train once a month. We’d go to the station hotel for tea and toast to settle jittery tummies. I carried something stronger in a hipflask but she never needed Read More

keep your eye

by Mia Wright (Uses excerpts from the song “Anticipate” by Ani DiFranco.) 1.“we don’t say everything that we couldso that we can say later, ‘oh, you misunderstood’”in the story I heard,someone else played the role of villain,though my mother never revealedtheir evil deed.she just said it, like slidinga note underneath the door.When my mother doesn’t giveexplanations willingly,don’t even bother asking. Read More

all i’m thinking about

by Paul Robert Mullen the trees in huckleberry grove were bending            touching their toes in the gustsso we drove down to the coast where boatsbobbed drunk in the stormand waves curled like hands scraping back            the sand who’d have known that laterwhen clouds were sucked into science-fictionelectric white              we would be saton benches / walking through pathways            where birds singresting Read More

Broken Thoughts

by Robin Ray     Broken thoughts, spiraled conflicts,marriages sealed by shotgun flares,          stiletto banjoes. These shoulders      are trampolines. Strike and be stricken,the tallyman says. [The future might          be brighter than I thought after all.] Celeste, I can’t find my slippers           anymore, and there’s a boy outside,      said he remembers you from a chalet in Aspen. Didn’t tip Read More

i refuse to believe your lies

by Linda M. Crate so long i have seen myselfthrough the dirty lensof your eyes,but i am not not the villainyou made me out to be;and you are no victor or victimjust an insincere devil untruemasquerading as an angelperhaps you miss heavenbut you’ve fallen—you lamented once you used to knowwhat people wanted,but i think you forgot your soulwas gone along Read More

You Were Once a Manta Ray

by Mary Thompson You were once a manta ray breaching the surface of the sea like a gymnast leaping high above its glittering splashes. How we twisted and turned and whirled together like a hypnotic melody. Your impact boomed through the ocean. Now I wish I could hunker down for winter sleep like the hedgehog cocooned in thousands of spines. Read More

Collect

“That’s a conch from Turks and Caicos,” says James. “The red one’s a dried starfish from St. Thomas. Ah, and that one was a hermit crab. We watched it drop this one and move into a new home.” “Wow, James. What a cool bunch of shells.” Elfred puts the conch down. “What made you keep them all?” “Well, most of Read More

Shoulder Perched Bird

by Rickey Rivers Jr. A bird perched on my shoulder keeps me company.“Is his name chip?” was the joke you made to me.I realized it applies more to you than me.My shoulder perched bird sings, tells me all I did not see. When we last met I did not know it would feel like my last breath.My shoulder aches when Read More