Aisling Walsh My cervix has been weeping for longer than I know. The pearl-pink nub at the neck of my womb is marked by a lesion which releases a constant trickle of blood. The ulcer was first...
Heidi Schulz I start in the Meet the Family Gallery. There, behind glass, are wax figures posed in life-sized dioramas. My dad, smaller than I remember, is reading a Louis Lamour western in his...
Kim Drew Wright In my earliest memory with my two older sisters, I’m toddling around a South Carolina backyard, past a metal playset with one of those face-to-face swings you have to pull and push...
Michael Hahn To little fanfare, in 2019, the Associated Press Stylebook abolished a hyphen. Stripped of the small dash, compound heritage terms such as Asian American and African American quietly...
Katie Bannon You find your father’s body by the kitchen sink. Hands clutching his heart, eyes shiny as marbles. Your mother’s scream cracks the quiet of the winter evening. Her mouth opens so...
Jessica Rapisarda Runner-up for the 2021 Spring Nonfiction Contest It begins, as it always does, with light. At 4:54 a.m., I open my eyes, and a constellation winks to life in my darkened bedroom....
Megan Falley VIII. Ace places his hand on the Bible in front of the judge and swears to tell the truth. But Ace is an atheist. Don’t you have anything more meaningful for him? I want to ask...
(Nine Alternatives to Reconciliation) Marne Litfin Winner of the 2021 Spring Nonfiction Contest “Is the Great American Novel you’re working on, the story of a young girl, who was emotionally...
Jessica Franken C major: Unsalted. Straight as train tracks. Children’s key. Your niece (six, with a tiny teenager inside) is learning piano, white keys first. If she grows cross, whisper that C...
Meagan Ciesla I wasn’t alone on that long walk when the dog came around the hedge, snarling. My friend was pushing her two-year-old in a stroller, and when she screamed, I thought she was joking...
