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 […]
The pills wear off in Munising
by Jason Kahler Issue 80 I knew the pills were wearing off because I cried during radio commercials for sports drinks and family vacations, and I named the bugs that smashed into the windshield as I made the turn toward Munising. Steve. Tom. Bill. Mack. Finn. Don. Bud. They needed little names for their little […]
There’s no getting back
by Peter Grandbois Issue 80 to sleep the absence can’t explain the shadow shiftingon the water the light driftingacross the wall— yesterday, when you stooddeep in the dreamed grove the swollen sky aboveglowing a sharp glassof unknowing listen to the bodies touch inhale the brief earth keep it with you there are oceans underground Peter […]
Lions
by Lauren Camp Issue 80 In a garden heavy with lanterns of color, a woman takes photosof every side of herself, head up and sparkling. A singular methodology.She is sealed into that looking to later flip through and dismiss. The river hosts its quietest gesture.My brother pulls a leaf from a tobacco plant,chews it. It […]
Party’s Over
by Andy Young Issue 80 We take a morning walk, cross the two-lane draped in treesthen lurch down into the flat gulch the waterfall used to be here one says the whole encrusted chain of the once-river hulking above usas we walk the dry flat river stones stop to look at the groovesin the rock […]
The Love Song of Shu-Sin, Revisited
by Kaylee Schofield Issue 80 My love, in your hands I amsoft and liquid as honeyor, better, agar preparing for its maiden voyagein a Petri dishpromising luxuriant growth to all manner ofcultures: botulinum, a skeletal handblooming across the plate;Staphylococcus, a strange constellationthe bacteria winking their wayfrom wall to wall Never a more vibrant gardenso quick […]
Yeosu
by kyung Issue 80 I’m getting off the train again. In distance,you’re walking in linen. Rolled black shorts.I river to you. Your grin slakes beforeyou see me. Our old friendship hesitates. Arid and waning, the day blooms paleon your soles lipping water. Limbs scrapelithic teeth in lips of algae. We barely scalethe pier. Your laughter […]
Sally Mann’s Night-Blooming Cereus
by Elinor Ann Walker Issue 80 after the photograph by Sally Mann (American, 1988) In the photograph, a childin Virginia wears a desert cactusdraped around her clavicles like a scarf,a necklace, a mother’s eye, orinnocence arrested, one momentcollared. White is the colorof most night-bloomers, theirvelvet centers seductiveto pollinators—hawkmoth& sphinx, dark-winged & whirring.The child is stayed […]
Self-Portrait with Fiction & Oversized Eye
by Susan L. Leary Issue 80 All fiction begins with the exposureof a nest. In winter: tin rain. The grassvanished. A medieval take on sky& earth. To say childhood is trendingis not preposterous in the least. I livedhere & in a single day, I grew up.A tumbling of saplings, then a tumblingof hierarchies. Every tree […]