Poetry
Mothsong, poem by John Philip Johnson, illustration by Mike Lawlor
I sing very quietly, my notes like field mice swallowed in the soil, singing the sway of Indian paintbrush, singing the rustle of columbine and moonflower. Hardly a whisper, a moth-sized song, but it’s all I have, the whir of my wings stirring the maternal air. But hear me: Today, I killed a bee! [...]
Poetry
Narrated by Robin Gow The lab report tells the narrative of a dissected shark. Label: heart brain kidneys feathers lockets fears torment firecracker summer 2017 the smooth rocks a lost sandal I draw arrows to label all these items inside the shark. I stick the scalpels in the walls [...]
Poetry
First Generation: The Counselor Prepares Her Retirement Speech by T.D. Walker
On Earth, there is a Center I can’t read for Generation Ship Studies, what my son writes, one which collects our stories especially the “I” poems; about who we tell them we are. later, he told me My son tells me this is what we do the speaker was never himself. when we are trainees, [...]
Poetry
The Silent Universe by Bruce Boston
Narrated by Bruce Boston Precisely counting the number of angels dancing on the head of a speeding quark, physicists discovered the Higgs boson, the God Particle, that had no sermons to preach to us, no commandments for us to obey, with nothing to tell us about the nature of life as we know it. [...]
Poetry
Narrated by computer you equal me // I’ve declared this before // I wish I could function Remember( love ) if ( love.memory is true ) remove next memory <<who are you? Remember( love ) else return me ; <<Hello, world // I wish I could Remember( you ); [...]
Poetry
Deux Sœurs Immortelle by Gretchen Tessmer
Narrated by Gretchen Tessmer you’ll likely find them gracing the cover of Vogue two glamorous girls, sitting on a lime green bench in 1920s French styles, with pale, translucent hands and diamond jewelry everywhere “now listen,” the first says to a man in tasseled loafers “it’s less in telling stories and more, I say in [...]
Fiction
Light or life by Jessica Testerman
As the firelight dwindled, Marna heard an owl hooting in the distance and was afraid. All her life she had been taught to fear birdsong because of what came with it, not the birds, but their avid followers.
Fiction
The Bloodstain and the Bone Garden by Daniel Delehant
Say, were you around Baldwin Park in the `70s? If so, do you recall The Cat’s Meow? It sat on the southeast corner of Ramona and Puente Avenues.
Fiction
Apartment 401 by Andrew Johnston
It was the racket from Mr. Sidon’s apartment that first caught my attention, and from that point I knew that I had to catch a glimpse of what was behind the door to apartment 401.
Fiction
Nothing but a Tale by Lynn Rushlau
Dariel called a greeting to the young woman hanging laundry outside the farmhouse. The clothespins tumbled from her hand.
Fiction
The Monster of Grug by Richie Billing
t wasn’t uncommon for people to disappear in The Fingers. A wayward step while navigating its mires; a chance encounter with a mountain bear; or, if abandoned altogether by luck, crushed by one of the gnarled and slender trees that gave the forest its name.