Candace Pearson – The Twin Bed
The Twin Bed In the austere twin bed, the woman they call “the mother” is dying. The other woman, the daughter in the doorway doesn’t believe it. Impossible to think the first woman would relinquish all control of the comings and goings of the world. The daughter watches labored inhalations; they are twitches from the […]
Marsha de la O – A History of Lament
A History of Lament For mothers who’ve lost children to violence You would never think so, but the detail is movement. Not his body, blue beneath the skin, a severed rope around his waist, the other one fled beyond the high pure cry of geese over Mt. Ararat with its dirty shawl of snow. Yes, […]
Molly Pershin Raynor – You Know You’ve Got Covid Brain
You Know You’ve Got Covid Brain when you realize your dress is inside out / take it off to fix it / put it back on / & then realize it’s still inside out / when you text all your exes try to fan an old flame / afraid a new ember may stray to […]
Stuart Jay Silverman – Workday
Workday She lets me know, she wants the toilets done every day. I’m here twice a week, so I drop a blue tab in the tank every two weeks to keep the white white despite the shit, the piss, the menstrual blood, and, I suppose, the semen he deposits in the bowl when, as she […]
Francine Witte – Definition
Definition The little boy asks his family what a lemon is. The mother, mostly apron, says oh I use it in my cooking. Also to sprinkle on fish. The father, who is rumpled like the evening paper, says, Ha! A lemon is the car your mother’s brother sold me. The boy’s older sister is mostly […]
