Grant Jensen Young Tommy Jones is building a boat on dry land. The closest lake is a two-hour drive on a good day, but he says he doesn’t care and that he’ll wait for the rain to fall and...
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...
Carl Lavigne They say it knows when you’ll die. Everyone’s got a file in every drawer. The higher you climb the more accurate the file gets. Bottom few levels it’s just a sheet of paper with...
Shreya Fadia They say that when you’re pregnant, fetal cells migrate through the placenta, embedding themselves into the interior fabric of you, the process a sort of colonization, the result a...
Rukan Saif The last time I saw my father this close to God was when the doctors cut open his chest and took his heart into their palms and named it lost. So when he declines the call to prayer for...
Cila Warncke Content Warning: This essay contains depictions of and discusses the following sensitive topics: sexual assault. Everything has two handles, one by which you can carry it, the other...
Katie Jean Shinkle The lights of the carousel blink once twice in distress. You are on main stage dressed in all-black to blend in, to never be seen. Instead, I squirrel you away my...
Ecem Yücel Content Warning: This essay contains depictions of and discusses the following sensitive topics: domestic violence, animal death. I once rebelled against my mother, whispers mother. She...
Brian Woerner I put my bloody tooth on a plate, spin it for luck. If there were two, I could rattle them like dice. I think my tooth is rooting for me. Little compass, I spin it again to commune with...