Halves of Things

by Clara Burghelea A bruise down the thigh or sinkingteeth into another flesh. A ring of sky,or the deafening storm. Dreaming of coffee all my life, then hives.Obsessed with soft leeches,choking at the sight of blood. To have and to hold, otherwiseeasy with the in-betweens. Inksliding on paper, then softly barren. Lying on the floor with you,naming all secrets, or Read More

Rock Paintings (2)

by Don Thompson Oblivion carries out its briefagainst color, relentlesslyturning the past pewter or dunso that once vivid eventscome back to us insipid,wrapped in spider silkand sucked empty. Yokuts memories are shards, basketstattered like abandoned bird nests—grave robbers’ leavings. But some murals must endure,sequestered in caverns no one ever found,unfading chalk and graphite pigments,cinnabar and volcanic ochre yellowimported from the 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