Metamorphosis
by Joel Harris issue 79 Changes of shape, new forms, are the theme which my spiritimpels me now to recite.—Ovid, Metamorphoses Papa Bois, horned shepherd of the forest,reel me in as a carp to your ungulate grasp. Entrance me with your hallowed bull horn,drown my ears in the gurgle of Ortoire’s torrent that I may […]
Self-Portrait of a Grieving Mother
by Julia Ongking issue 79 i am told i resemble my mother.ah yi traces the mountainsof my cheeks, reminiscentof grandmother’s bangka sittingoff a bicolano shoreline. the fortune-teller cups my face,whispers into kongkong’sear. flashes a terse smileas she pauses at the roundedtip of a bulbous nose, says she has never quite seen anythinglike it. it is […]
It’s Not You
by Chris Wiberg issue 79 IN THE NEAR FUTURE, SOMEONE WILL invent a bomb that can bedisguised as a credit card. Everything gets smaller and more destructive,and just the thought of something is as good as it already happening. Andthen it will be a thing that exists in the world: compact, light, commonplace,undetectable. Nuclear. The […]
Recipe for Adobong Palaka
by Yvanna Vien Tica issue 77 1. a. when she mistakes a frog For food she stores the children’s laughter as punishment 1. b. she is beguiled by their mouths how the tongues flickered like rabbits flashing through snow 2. how can you blame her when everything back home heated without warning flooded without ceasing […]
Rearticulation
by Anastasia Stelse issue 77 The archaeologist, too, came bearing bones. Textbook curvatures kept clean—His own a set in blue velvet. I roll them onto the table in our study. Build hands. Wire wrapped around each carpal connects to metacarpal. This way I can pose them, the un-matching set. Sometimes I intertwine the small left […]
When I Speak Up For Myself, It Sounds Like Killing A Lobster
by Allyn Bernkopf issue 77 I plunge a blade behind her head & rip abdomen away from carapace. Her mouths gape in silence as my bone splitter splits & I feel her last flinch shiver under my nails. I hover her body over a steaming bowl, new water— tomb—to call home. Ghost limb syndrome haunts […]
Every Day is Someone’s First in Purgatory
by Samuel Piccone winner of the 2021-2022 Kay Murphy Prize for Poetry issue 76 My wife’s stethoscope necklaces her with the soon-to-be-dead, a stack of red manilla drags her out the door, “Just shoot me already.” The owner who calls to remind her he’ll hang himself if she doesn’t save his cat is calling again. There’s […]
I Cancel Your Plane Tickets
by Rita Mookerjee issue 76 since you won’t be coming to the island the way we’ve been planning for months, it’s a pretty ideal time to break the news to me. After weeks of fighting, I pull up pictures of the bamboo hut on the water that we chose, though we knew that a single ceiling fan […]
The Wolf Indicator
by Jacqueline Berger issue 76 A good man avoidsthe no-fly zoneof a daughter’s body.That leaves arms and hair and feet and back and shoulders and kneesand calves and ankles. He’s been dead for a decadeand you still can’t put into words, can’t or won’t,but today the new hygienist, young, gay, fresh from training,really wants to talkabout your teeth.So now […]
When We’ve Been Married Nearly a Year, My Wife and I Share a Toothbrush for the First Time
by Remi Recchia issue 76 Power out. Tree resting on the telephone wire like an overexerted watchman. Cannot see through bathroom window. Nothing to see through bathroom window. No baby to comfort during storm. No baby for a long time. And God said to Rachel. And God said to Mary. He does not say to […]