Decades have flown by like comets in the thick darkness of unknown spaces leaving a gentle tail of magical sands. He continues his steadfast journey carefree through a dragnet of faces without features, robots in a crowd. Dim tales slowly vanish upon the cosmos; will they subsist long enough to be captured by the eyeless... Continue Reading →
Unattainable by Andrea Festa
My father stood beside the wilted orange tiger lilies on the side of our house. So small and fragile compared to the grand spectacle in the sky. A meteor shower, a celestial trajectory of cosmic debris. Thousands, bright and fast, cascaded from the infinite galaxy to Earth. Earth, where my father and I stood, awestruck.... Continue Reading →
Water Under the Bridge by Lynn White
The Canadian canoe submerged as we got in too clumsily. The cushions, brought thoughtfully for comfort were soaked along with everything else. Then we discovered that we were unable to co-ordinate our paddling so moving along the narrow canal in a straight line was impossible. Thus we made slow progress. And then we came to... Continue Reading →
Death and Scaling by Ed Ahern
I encountered death at eight. Not people death, that happened at ten. Fish death, and autopsy, and undertaking. My grandmother, a petit but wiry thing, would knead leftover oatmeal into balls. These I gently inserted into a minnow trap, walked it down the dock and lowered away. Minnows entered and ate their last meal.... Continue Reading →
Checkmate by Bartholomew Barker
I taught my wife chess too well. She countered all my moves with ease. "Chinese or pizza tonight?" I didn't care. "Pick one." Okay— Chinese. "Let's get pizza." There were also good times— long talks on hikes with dogs, laughs over sushi and sake but just enough rejection that I felt like failure.... Continue Reading →
Night Air by Tobias Maxwell
I want to steal the night air, Make it my captive. Bathe my skin With its dewy magic. The starlit Spray that fills my lungs, replenishes My spirit. I’m reminded of being alive In the stillness between midnight and dawn. The lushness evoked by the crickets’ hymn, A song that sends my soul searching For... Continue Reading →
And Sadness by John Tustin
It’s the noise the used umbrella makes when it’s closed and thuds wetly on the floor and it’s the boy waving wanly goodbye and getting on the bus and it’s her trying to be nice to you because she wants something and your skin crawls more than usual and it’s the same songs cynically played... Continue Reading →
There are Some Things by John D. Robinson
I can guarantee, I won’t be killed by a Great White shark as I swim in the English Channel, I will never rob a bank, I guarantee that I am without ambition of any kind and I love cats and wine, I can guarantee that I won’t perish in outer-space or by a pistol duel at... Continue Reading →
Indigo by Eric Persaud
Packed us up shipped us off across seas Indian to Caribbean lowest caste captive labor Chains torn indigo to gold settled again away up North among new faces for raw hopes Where we are told Go back home! And we would if only we knew what was home Photo by Pok Rie on... Continue Reading →
Vestiges by Laura Stringfellow
We are driving home. Dark stretches across the sky. Rain thumps the windshield. From the back seat, my gaze is steady on the glass, moving lines of rain held between the profiles of my parents―my mother's black hair against the seat, the rigid musculature of my father. Square lighted windows of houses glare like... Continue Reading →