Amanda Moore – Misconnection

Misconnection Keepers at Tokyo’s Sumida Aquarium, which has been closed since 1 March due to the coronavirus pandemic, are asking people to call in for a sub-aqua video chat and remind the eels that humans are friendly. -BBC Newsbeat In the end the idea of Facetiming the eels held more delight than actually Facetiming the […]

Afric McGlinchey – Teaching a shake

Teaching a shake Her eyes well up. Love you and your doors, flung open and launched into single high notes. We are a country of hair. How are my favorite black trees? They open their wings. The frogs have subsided, but still occasionally gooach gooach gooach. An owl at the punch-line. She lifts her clamor […]

Xiaoly Li – The Yearning Tree

The Yearning Tree                —Mother’s Story Shadows flung his body on the dirty wall dimmed the moonlight through the iron window. He lay on the dry grass suffering from malaria & worsened lung disease. Could he survive & see the fruit of the revolution? He stared at a looming star, waited for the morning. In that […]

Lynne Knight – Extravagance of Red

Extravagance of Red             after Matisse She painted the room red.             Not just the walls—the ceiling, the floor. Even the wood table, red.             She felt unable to explain why. Something about wanting life             to shout at her from every surface. Something about death and defiance.             Was she happy in her red room? She bought red flowers […]

Tim Kahl – The Love Helmet

The Love Helmet The mosquitos came to greet us after World War II. But the DDT didn’t kill the falcons outright. It just thinned the shells of their eggs. They couldn’t support the weight, and there weren’t any chicks hatching in the wild. Enter the intrepid falconer who becomes the handler, raises the male from […]