Amber Flora Thomas – Palinode (the Rabbits)
Palinode (the Rabbits) And the worship of killers ended. Grasses came after the rabbit, the dog chewed the fresh shoots and vomited in the driveway. Before this, Pearl, the black rabbit with a silver belly chewed carrots and aimed an eye-mirror at my hand as I reached in the cage; she tolerated my touch. She […]
Ellen Goldsmith – When the Rules Change
When the Rules Change Once, I heard the clang of prison gates. There to give a workshop, I was required to walk through the metal detector. The guard asked me to remove my earrings. Not necessary, I said. I don’t at the airport. He gave me a withering look. As I walked through, my earrings […]
Rebecca Foust – —ish
—ish how did I get so lucky as to have not one not two but three kids willing to slap me upside the head with a four-day-old fish anytime I forget my turn in a game or use the wrong pronoun or slip by telling a joke that was funny back when but definitely is […]
Luke Johnson – Tether
Tether For M. I was 16 when I pressed the trigger of an air soft and felt it thrust forward. And felt it winnow when the blue jay plummeted forty feet from pine and started flipping like sparks from a live M-80. A burst that blew the thumb from the neighbor’s nephew and later left […]
Nianxi Chen – Farewell (trans. from the Chinese)
Farewell Because of the approaching departure, I came to Wenyu River again. The willows still on the breakwater change only their outfits in North winds. The river’s quiet. It’s cold at the end of the year. The twilight hazes with smoke. We all tasted hustle and bustle. How many people in how many years travel […]
