Mary Maxfield My mother taught me silence like a secret handshake, more muscle memory than vow. When asked about her now, a hush entangles fingers, slaps, knocks fists. I say everything but this. She...
Robert Mata We fished all summer. My father taught me to bait a hook with a worm, then a minnow, then a crayfish. Learning torture like Russian dolls, each body a grosser, wider death. The cooler...
Patrick Kindig The students I teach are more likely to die than most. Horribly & soon, I mean—in battle, or in that skull- numbed moment before. Or simply by a stray bullet skimming the floor...
Korey Hurni The day after his myth began, Icarus had to return to the trophy bar to pick up his credit card. This time molted, reeking of cheap plastic, feeling as though he crashed far out in some...
Martin Hopson He drives the fishhook through the soft belly of the tree frog— its legs like engine cylinders back- firing in the amber of the afternoon. I wish he had a good reason for taking it...
Rebecca Hawkes “why suck the strap” why look at a sunset. why listen to your favourite song. why stop to smell the flowers. come on now – Tumblr user...
Rasma Haidri What I saw was the man, no, the man’s hand, no, the deer, I saw the deer on its side, side swept, asleep, no, not asleep, the deer was resting, waiting to die, no, the deer was waiting...
Sara Davis After Joe Brainard I remember the mall on Saturdays. We tried on clothes, but no one had clothes money so we bought candy cigarettes, makeup, Hello Kitty trinkets. It cost a quarter to...
Rose McMackin I know the summer constellations well. Cassiopeia, chained to her chair. Cygnus, the swan with the bright star Deneb in his tail. Aquila, the eagle, bearing thunderbolts across the sky....
Mauri Pollard Johnson How to Play: Give three statements about yourself. Let two be truths and one be a lie. Make your lies rest in the space between believable and outlandish. Make them sound like...