Excerpts from the current issue:
“She devours everything,
plants, animals, minerals, men,
and from her skin the greenest grasses grow
and from her eyes the waters rush.”
(Christopher Davis, “Against Pride”)
“[…] I’d like
to have been born wearing spats
and a dickey, already towering, a fifty
in my back pocket, gnawing
squares of broken crockery
and cherry blossoms.”
(Adam Day, “Nothing’s Branch”)
“Autumn had vanished overnight without a proper goodbye. Last night he and Ellie had enjoyed steamers and grilled haddock on the porch under a Maine sky torched with stars, unsullied by city lights or smog. This morning he’d wanted to stay in bed with her, but his lobster catch for the season was way down.”
(Tom Bennitt, “Nor’easter”)
“There was a time, of course, when ‘like’ had a different effect on me. I could feel my blood heat my cheeks the first time Heather said it. We weren’t in bed though we’d done it already, ‘made love’ were the private words in my head. A couple of days after the first time, she picked me up early at work. We were sharing a cone of Black Raspberry ice cream. September, a year and a half ago. I remember watching the tip of Heather’s tongue scoop a dollop of lavender ice cream.”
(Kim Magowan, “Like Salt”)
EDITOR’S NOTE
Poem by Buzz Mauro
A TOAST
Short Story by Glen Pourciau
BIRTHDAY
Poem by William Virgil Davis
SONNET
Poem by Kristene Brown
THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON CHEMO
Short Story by Kim Magowan
LIKE SALT
Poem by Tobi Alfier
DIVERSION
Poems by Nicky Beer
AMBLYOPIA
BELLY OWL
OVERTURE IN APRIL
Short Story by Tom Bennitt
NOR’EASTER
Poems by Bruce Bond
OCEAN
SUMMONS
Poems by Andrea Syzdek
JUJUBES
LAST ONE OUT OF LEE COUNTY BURN IT TO THE GROUND
NATIVE TEXAN
Short Story by Emily Nemens
A PLAYER’S GUIDE TO SPRING TRAINING, PT 4: FIELDING, SECTION A—THE INFIELD
Poem by Micah Muldowney
HOLLY TREE
Poems by Stephen Brown
23. HOTEL WASHINGTON
47. SANTA MARIA DE LA REDONDA
6. LA FAYUCA ALVARO OBREGON
4. SUNDAY FLOWERS
Translations of Arthur Rimbaud, by Mark Irwin
MA BOHEME / FANTASY OF AN ARTIST
AU CABARET—VERT / AT THE CABARET—VERT
VOYELLES / VOWELS
Featured Artist, Stacy Tompkins
BIOGRAPHY AND ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Short Story by Tim Fitts
EVEN ANIMALS
Poem by Sarah Bigham
LOVED BE
Poem by Christopher Davis
AGAINST PRIDE
Poems by Adam Day
NOTHING’S BRANCH
PIP
Short Story by Jerry Craven
ASKING ARTHUR ABOUT PAL
Poem by Devon Miller-Duggan
PROPER ABECEDARIAN 2: POSSIBILITY
Poem by Anne Champion
THE RHYTHM OF UNCERTAINTY
Short Story by Marlene Olin
AN ARM, A LEG, A CHIN
Poems by Danielle Sellers
LETTERS FROM THE VELVET DITCH (5)
OUTBURSTS
Poems by Rob Thornton
THE FALLING
AMOS WELLS
Poem by Matt Hart
I’VE GOT BELIEVERS
CONTRIBUTOR NOTES
2016 AWARD WINNERS