A Goodbye Letter from the Managing Editor Abbie Skinner __________ A little over two years ago, at the end of my first year of McNeese’s MFA program, everything was changing. The third year students I’d come to rely on for guidance and encouragement were graduating; Allie Mariano, the interim Fiction Director…
Read MoreLetter from the Editor Vallie Lynn Watson __________ Imagine all the People This issue marks a resounding whoop of an end to my first full calendar year at McNeese, and the collaborative effort behind this issue is woven of such lovely threads I will always treasure from my first year.…
Read MoreLast Rites Neil Connelly __________ Breathing In the movies when somebody dies, they always exhale, one long final sigh. But at my mother’s end, she just stopped. She inhaled and her chest rose up then froze. Still. For days, she had struggled to breath, wide-eyed and raspy, something wet and…
Read MoreReport: Skinny Monkeys Live Longer Steve Almond __________ All those sweet bubbes boiling knaidlach, those nonnas palming gnocchi andplump babushkas ladling borscht, bonneting the afternoons in schmaltz andsteam—all of them are murderers. Out in California, they believe you can live forever on the right diet:grapefruit, sunflower seeds, Sweet ‘N Low.…
Read MoreBald Eagle Taxes Tim Bass __________ The new guy showed up in a coat of black feathers and a giant hat with a long, fuzzy eagle’s beak sticking out of it. He wore yellow pants. “Weird,” Eric said. “Looks like something on Sesame Street,” Stevie P. said. Eric and Stevie…
Read MoreConfessions Travis Park __________ Beneath the soft glow of streetlights fading,A revelation whispers, threading through our ordinary world.The park, a familiar canvas, now painted with uncertainty.Her eyes, a mosaic of joy and quiet turmoil,Hold a story yet unfolded, veiled in their depths.The air, thick with the scent of anticipation,Leaves me…
Read MoreAncestral Bed William Miller __________ In the country, there were fewand no one ever slept alone. A strawor chicken-feather mattress was for lean,tired men home from the field,the time between “cain’t see and cain’t see”,for women with hands burned by lye soap,feet blistered by bad ill-fitting shoes.Babies were born there,…
Read MoreLast Night, I Prayed for Peace Jeric Olay __________ Last night, I prayed for peace. But my prayer, I suspect, seems inconceivably large. As I woke up, I paced for the window. From where I stood, everything was christened with wonted quiet. I looked at the bougain- villea that grew on the casserole. Its…
Read MoreThe Specter in the Tadpole Room Brigid Cawley __________ The kids playing with blocks this morning built a fire station, a castle, and a temple for Belphegor. Miriam and I look at each other knowingly when Danny explains his temple to us. We could have told you two days ago…
Read MoreCapitalist Necktie Jeffrey H. MacLachlan __________ Treasure Chest comic book Vol.17 No.2 This is a dad tie.This is a straight tie.This is a glum blue tie. This tie mows over tax dependents.This tie hangs from ironed dress shirts.This tie never squirms when belting offspring. This tie tithes at Father Ryan’s…
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