Judson Evans – Palimpsest
Palimpsest I smell the time travel in your hair. The all fall down consternation catches in the zipper of your sweater. Call it chrysanthemum snow, a simultaneous Scranton unknown to you. Two guys walk into an alley where a prostitute has bitten her pimp so deeply they make someone call an ambulance. The afternoon light […]
Julie Wittes Schlack – Insourcing
Insourcing The warden’s most recent bid had come in lower than that of the Affiliated Garment Producers of Cambodia, so today the men of Apparel Unit 21 were producing robes for Buddhist monks. The irony of this situation wasn’t lost on Harrison as he stood in the sewing cell, watching hundreds of orange jump-suited men […]
Chris McCann – Business Trip
Business Trip I am the water in the storm drain. But not the water that pools in the darkness, nor the water that floods in from the street. No, I am the water as it plunges a second time after plummeting from the clouds. It is one of those heartsick situations where it seems possible […]
YZ Chin – Experienced C3PO Seeks Unique Challenges
Experienced C3PO Seeks Unique Challenges My business card read “C3PO.” The title stood, depending on who you asked, most often for Chief Peace/Poetry/People Officer. The office was in Silicon Alley, otherwise known as New Hack City. (As an ex-poet, I have my private concerns about these coinages, but that is beside the point.) At my […]
Nicholas A. White – The Powerlifter
The Powerlifter Obesity, poor diet, lack of cardiovascular exercise, high blood pressure. Billy had all of them. He dreamed of breaking powerlifting records, not longevity. On his first day at the office, he carried, in one trip, his entire collection of engineering books, reference materials, and personal items—four moving boxes stacked taller than his head. […]
