‘A lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow’
by Blair Benjamin Issue 80 —from the Second Book of Samuel Picture an ordinary Moabite lion pit.Picture a starving 9th century BCE beast.Not Aslan—that cheap Christ allegory,that vain withholding 1950’s colonialist.This one not witch-stabbed, not spell-cast,not resurrected. Stabbed, yes, most likely.But killed off-hand, an afterthought,meriting just half a biblical verse—another day’s work of a mighty […]
Skullduggery
by Nailah Mathews Issue 80 this one wasn’t made by god or xir angels she was spat out ( hacked free from xir clawed throat, folded into tissue, discarded as gershom’s foreskin see: that […]
On Her Eighty-First
by Timothy Robbins Issue 80 I wish my sympathy for her grew aseasily as the most inspired cancer. Orif that is harsh, like dandelions, notorchids. Let it have the orchid’s look of an alien intelligence. Let it beas single as an orchid in its small pot.But give it a knack for thriving inmaterial as self-centered […]
As yet, untitled
by Tara Zafft Issue 80 We are snacking on chocolate coveredcherries, we think. The label in Hebrewobscured. Maybe it’s raisins, cured upon soft chairs we avoid the rain. Third dayWe talk about wanting to feel safe.And they look to me. As if. Decadesolder I have some answers. Do I tellthem? I have more? They wonder […]
tirada
by Marc Huerta Osborn Issue 80 yesterday you threw cleavers at the squirrel stealing fruit from your avocado tree. true: the tree sits in your neighbor’s yard; but a few branches do transgress the fence into yours — would God not want you to grasp Him where He gathers? true: tomorrow you throw pots and […]
The Body Being Taught
by Kristin Sanders Issue 80 The part where you discover his moves, the new lover. The part where you are belly-downand spread. The part where he’s inside you andinside you. Showing your body how to do it,to accept. How it doesn’t hurt.And the slim vibrator keeps turning on inside you.Don’t push me out when you […]
The Cosmic Dust of God’s Voice
by Joseph Omoh Ndukwu Issue 80 There is nothing to the darkness, nothing in it, really,only the mist of our breathing and the candid shapeof our collective depression. The dog under the tabledreams something a little more definitive. A seraphiccharge of the centaur through the universal hum,like the quick blink of a cat’s eye in […]
12-13-23
by Whiskey Radish Issue 80 Whiskey Radish was educated in French literature at Barnard College, Columbia University. Her work has appeared in US: The Columbia Review, Fevers of the Mind, New Note Poetry, On the Highways (paperback anthology), Jake, Rougarou, The Harvard Advocate; UK: Blackbox Manifold, Oxford Review of Books, Red Ogre Review, and […]
The Council
by Lana Spendl Issue 80 The executive committee sits in coffin chairs at the head of the table in the great hall. Past chancellors in oils gaze down. The coffins stand vertical, bent at the waist, in a chic yet classic design. Mahogany, walnut. The director, who is the tallest, bends head forward as she […]
Dear Lucille Ball,
by Richard Hamilton Issue 80 i. Was it the tour guide’s bedroom eyes,or the question: to whom benign does the I inI Love Lucy belong? If I pratfall, don houndstooth, bark at the implausible line,unable to speak, red-haired American girlsmirror, representations beach like soft whales. In a season’s transcript,even now, talk of your 1936 affiliationwith the […]