Cobbling Apples Kim Malinowski __________ Do not peel your apple.It is a waste of time.Some vitamins mightsurvive to taste. Slice neatly.Quarter then quarterthen quarter.Cut out the core.Spit over your righthip and throw saltover your left shoulder.Do not cut yourself.Blood enhances lovenot flavor. Measure the maple syrup.1/3 cup. Then pour a…
Read MoreBoiled Down Angela Townsend __________ I never have to eat a hard-boiled egg again. No adult of any species should even think these words. But you cannot betray yourself without philandering against language, and I have committed adultery. It seemed reasonable at the time. Reason wears stain-resistant shirts. All I…
Read MoreLast Thanksgiving Shirlee Jellum __________ Candles flickered on window sills and tables, golden light reflected on glass and polished wood, a warm welcome to family members arriving for the holiday feast. A centerpiece graced the dining room table—a handmade bouquet of crimson maple leaves, snowberries, rosehips and dried seedpods. Platters…
Read Morein houses of stolen bones Peach Delphine __________ what remains what lives within our wordsours alone progress incremental visibility necessity we are not coin in your currency salt bartered flesh expendable bitches voices unfiltered rolling off Gulf tangle lightning wash your greens in three watersfor luck stem tear wash again progress incremental clear onions bacon…
Read MorePièce de Résistance Jane Blanchard __________ I wondered if this gatheringWould prove a bit too challenging,But so far it is going fine—Or well enough—for me and mine.Once soft or stiffer drinks are gone,The potluck supper can move on.Our host serves seasoned roasted lamb;Our hostess offers glazed baked ham.The slightly stressful…
Read MoreThe Stretch Mehreen Ahmed __________ Even if I were to bark up the wrong tree, so be it as long as I am barking something. I don’t know how to climb a tree. Wrongs can’t be right until a climb has ensued. I slide many times before I correct my…
Read MoreRubus Sara Gonzales-Rothi __________ Each drupelet an August delight. Borne of leaf litter, restored in frosty slumber, blossoming through the thaw, ripened in sun-bake. Betwixt pointer and thumb, then palate and tongue: delectable revelry. The morn stretches left. The eve, right. We find ourselves. Every need satisfied, here in the…
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Read MoreLetter from the Editor Vallie Lynn Watson ‘Tis the season! Our “Boo”din theme of “monsters” has me harkening back to the last election cycle and remembering how I dealt with said stress: Halloween decor! Still early in the pandemic, I spent just about every day of October 2020 on my…
Read MoreLost in Canterbury Colette Tennant __________ Once, after a rough crossing from Calais to Dover, I entered England for the first time. Unashamed tourist, traveling alone, I slept the first night at Canterbury’s Pilgrim Inn. Maybe because I was by myself, they tucked me in a corner room under the…
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