David Waters __________ Familiar 2025, ink and ochre. __________ Studies of the Queen 2025, ink and guache. __________ Cole, the grinning Familiar. __________ David Waters is an Australian sculptor. His primary focus over the last 5 years has been works on paper using acrylic, ink and collage. __________ << Back…
Read MoreKansas, anyway Rachele Salvini __________ Since I moved here, I’ve been looking up horrible Kansas stories to avoid thinking. I read about a mother who never let her kid out, so he grew up in his room, never able to meet other children. He sat in his own feces, crawling…
Read MoreMissy’s Animal Rescue Bryn Gribben __________ Missy herself sits behind the desk, loggingadoptions, barely looks up from the screen.“You can just open up the cageand pet them, if you want.” Frowsy-haired, her giant breasts are wet from doing flea dips, “forty done already—twenty left to go.” Grimy with the musk of…
Read MoreAncestor, Mother, Goddess Anissa Lynne Johnson __________ 8,000 years ago, at the dawn of human civilization in the Fertile Crescent, rodents plagued the settlements, attracted by crops and the by-products of agriculture. Humans proved defenseless against the hordes searching for an easy meal, reproducing at exponential rates. No Neolithic weapons…
Read MoreCritters Sharon Hoffman __________ Decades ago, we let the back lawn go wild, and now the marsh oaks dwarf the house. There are loquats, sweet bay, red bud, cherry laurel, saw palmetto and Spanish bayonet. The Cape Girardeau has long since swallowed up the fence. It’s become a dense thicket…
Read MoreWordy Bird Emerald Fox __________ If you were a bird,Settled in perfect, pompous-Bring me a few things that I would need-We shall have tea in the morning-As we chat over business-Graven imagereading the Morning Brew with-Nothing but manners and refinement, Could instill-If you are going to be ill-tempered, take it to…
Read MoreBirdfeeding Tyler Robert Sheldon __________ after T.R. Hummer When it’s time, you haul the huge bagof birdseed from the cargo holdof your SUV and muscle it overto the new feeder, which waitsfor filling, and lift the lid and pour,the cracked black seeds spinningdeep into the heart of the cylinder,the light…
Read MoreJennifer Sepso __________ Oliver Mid-stride, he collapses— not fallen,just hungry.As dramatic asa high school productionof Romeo and Juliet.Spine long as breath, he stretches until the room pauses in respect.Deliberately he yawns: a flare of pink, a carnivorouscathedral of teeth. Then trots off, tail held high— a banner, not a question.Tucks…
Read MorePaige Milatz __________ Porcupine, Thirty-One Years Later I would like to tellMiss Oliverabout my good luck,my encounter with a porcupinein quill and forest:A recently tumbledCottonwood tree, leaves still glossy greenleaning away from the riverinstead of upright and there she was. How slow, how sloth-likeshe moved on the branchesof the thick tree!…
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