Human Parcels – by Fiona Clark
Hidden in my right shoe’s hollow heel, a gold watch ticks.
Beneath my under-bodice, neatly stitched, my mother’s
turquoise ring. The water in the harbour coils, black ink
Read More Human Parcels – by Fiona ClarkHidden in my right shoe’s hollow heel, a gold watch ticks.
Beneath my under-bodice, neatly stitched, my mother’s
turquoise ring. The water in the harbour coils, black ink
Read More Human Parcels – by Fiona ClarkShould warmth be a word reserved to the world of touch? Laughter
and joy, reserved to the world of emotion?
Read More What Will You Say? – by Andrew ShaughnessyThe pungent scent of sulfur
fires out from the gangrenous fumes
of societal decay we don’t smell anymore
Read More Thoughts and Prayers – by Renee CronleyThe burnt roast from yesterday hanging in the air,
another, in a long list of disappointments.
In my day, pot and patchouli perfumed bedrooms and back seats.
Sandalwood incense bought by donation from dubious Hare Krishna monks
chanting on the corner.
She looks beyond the fire to the flat surface of the lake. There is little in the way of moon and stars tonight, but lights from the lodge on the opposite shore glimmer on the water’s skin. In her eyes, the dancing amber flames ripple.
Read More I Should Have Asked Sooner – by Gabby GilliamMama pulls down the attic ladder.Smell of dust and moth balls.I tug on her apron strings. I want to play.Clothespins click and clack.Papa’s shirts float down—flat gullsthat crumple in her basket.Alone on a shelf, a vase,sea snakes frozen in its porcelain.Their skins gleam wet.Don’t touch that!It’s a wedding present from Yvonne.Mama tells me how they […]
Read More Nobody to Hold Her Back – by Atma FransHe’d shake your hand as though he were pulling a weed.
And when I turned twelve he taught me how to
see through the soiled promises of earthly negotiations.
All the ways to drink tea were steeped in you: warming the pot as if it were a heart in need of devout attention. The fullness of time required to brew was the patience of good things you taught me to wait for. The tea cozy a relic of the women who raised us; purposeful, […]
Read More Stone Ground – by Jennifer MarianiThere wasn’t a place could lure you to stay, you said, feet planted,/that big bosom swagger every tramp’s dream. You swore an afterlife/on trains…
Read More Boxcar Betty Catches The Westbound – by Leslie Casey