Lifespan, Lovespan & The Golden Storm Tara Flaherty Guy __________ Lifespan, Lovespan Lucy lies in a splash of late afternoon sun where it slants in through the patio door, warming the carpet and her soft grey fur. It is unseasonably warm for late October, and the patio door is open.…
Read MoreWhat If the Symbol Were a Puppy?, Tinka and the Magic Beans, & Needing Feed Tricia Knoll __________ What If the Symbol Were A Puppy? The puppy promisedits only lifeto comfort, healto the end of each day,attending even night screams. What if it were taught with patiencenot to bite or…
Read MoreIt’s Nice to be Kneaded R. Elliott Martin __________ When we moved into my apartment, spent from the divorce, my furry little buddy kept his distance. Content to be fed and left alone, he was aloof, independent, free. His gray and white fur did not yet cover my shirts, pillow, couch. And the curtains had not been…
Read MoreChloe Goes to College Robbie Gamble __________ Last night I saw the Subaru in my dreams. Now they have dragged my dog bed from the trunk, stuffed it with boxes, tote bags, a duffel big enough to hold three of me. This is not a good sign. Luggage means absence, and though I do…
Read MoreSecond Annual Pet Writing Contest, March ’25 Editor: Vallie Lynn Watson Managing Editor: Karris Rae Associate Editor: Taryn White Assistant Editors: Robbie Hess, Leah Joseph, Jade Turner, Meilyn Woods Interns: Ta’Mya Davis, Elaine Schroeder Guest Judges: Lucinda Kempe, Mark Williams Natalie Popp, “Two Roommates” Letter from the Editor by Vallie…
Read MoreOmelet & Her 77th Michelle McMillan-Holifield __________ Omelet We broke eggs sloppily over a Corelle cup,that little 1977goblet whose greensweren’t leavesbut a censusof mossy splotches, whose pattern of small yolk-yellow flowers was as familiar and delicious a memory as the zingof mustard greensin a grandmother’ssweltering kitchen—her love villagewhere she prayedfor her salvationwhere she prayedfor her babieswhere…
Read MoreWalking on the Levee on Our Way to Angel Mounds Mark Williams __________ We met on Sunday mornings with our dogs: beagles,retrievers, John Biacinni’s two German Shepherds,a collie, a pair of Great Danes, a pit-mix . . .An ecumenical gathering if ever there was. OnceI counted twenty-one people and twenty-six…
Read MoreFree Steven Ray Smith __________ You were a baby on the day I met you, and also not, because you had lived already, alone and for yourself already, somewhere invisible to me that I could never visit. But because you didn’t know how to hunt or to hide from those…
Read MoreLetter From the Guest Editor Abbie Skinner __________ What a strange and beautiful thing it is to share your life with an animal. Reading the submissions for this special edition, I was struck by this idea of intersections of life and how important those intersections can become in spite of…
Read MoreHow My Dog Smells Dean Flowerfeld __________ The world is a whorl of wonderful whiffsfor a doggie like me who lives by his sniffs and the wind is awash in a welter of wafts,such succulent scents on the breeze are aloft: the sweet and the sour, the savory and musty,the…
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