By Isabel Gallegos I was sitting in my car in front of my 3-year-old daughter’s friend’s house, with twenty minutes to spare before I had to pick her up from a birthday party. I wanted to use those twenty minutes of adult time wisely. I had been wanting to ask my mom my birth story. […]
Every Hard Thing Happened at Once Read More »
By Marisol Delarosa “I’m not afraid to die.” It was almost winter. Between the span of unnervingly clustered brick walls and the foliage in its final phase of hue, I estimated that it would take one child approximately thirty maroon crayons to capture the view outside the hospital window. I pulled absently at the plastic
By Mike Vicencio I shuffled through the long snaking line of Newark Liberty international arrivals, finally got my passport stamped for re-entry, picked up my backpack at baggage claim, cleared U.S. Customs then headed for the exit. But struck by an urge to stop for a drink, I backtracked into the terminal, soon came across
I Was Back…But What Exactly Had I Come Home To? Read More »
By Richard Pels Grandma Izzy was no longer talking to Aunt Bess. She wasn’t talking to Cousin Lester. She did talk to Cousin Bird, but Bird lived in Baltimore and wasn’t much good to her all the way up there. Besides she and Bird weren’t talking last month. But Grandma Izzy’s never stopped talking to
Grandma Izzy Cools Her Jets Read More »
By Shadiyat Ajao Link to original formatted piece here how once you see the thing you can’t unsee it how eventually, the thing becomes all you can see how the thing is still the thing even if it’s being called a new thing how there are so many things to see how no thing is
I think a lot about how we got here Read More »
By Shadiyat Ajao Link to original formatted piece here She slouches in a chair scooted flush against the table picky as ever. Accepting only offerings of the self. Nourished only by the humble self. Still hungry for the self. it’s massive, the weight of existence, too heavy a meal. She asks,“How?” ii. How could I
A Meal in 3 Courses Read More »
By Rosebud Ben-Oni Link to original formatted piece here —for Holly Burdorff I keep it all skull & crossbones & siphon the oxygen out of weapons I’m my own superhero & my own hypeman no cape no cloak less spidersense more exoskeleton & the jumping of salmon I am in the chalk & the nails
20Ca :: —& I’ve Got Big News for You, Big Brother Read More »
By Rosebud Ben-Oni Link to original formatted piece here —for Holly Zhou really a dragon on the dl. puff my magic. titanium i acquit when all others a gas with can’t touch this & i let my hammer rip. & that investment tip on snitches crashing out your business, it’s my business drip, a baby
18Ar :: 2indolent2quit Read More »
By Rosebud Ben-Oni Link to original formatted piece here You all think: oh no, it’s her, let’s get this one over with— s’true, guilty as funk, as you get what you pay for, & I admit the reason & rancor for rotten luck & skulking your eggs & the morning— the god -awful morning— in
16S :: It’s Brimstone, Bitch Read More »
By Pamela Gay Link to original formatted piece here WARS are everywhere today, non-stop, no counting, endlessly invading, ever spreading like disease, no end in sight. Troops are withdrawn, boundaries are redrawn, territories occupied, generals pre-occupied, And round & round we go and where we stop, nobody knows, not even the Deciders who declare we
WARNING > THE SKY IS FALLING! Read More »