Gradually She Finds Her Voice John Janelle Backman __________ SuffocatinginherenoroomtotwitchevenbetweenheartlungsdiggingofribsmustgetOUT Mr. Johnson held open his pre-calculus lesson planner, which listed all the assignments for the year, and his finger stabbed at a column mostly of blanks. “See? Here, here, twice that week, here again…John, you’ve missed a ton of homework,”…
Read MoreOn Eldering Clayton H Eccard __________ Recently someone called me an elder, as if I’d crossed the finish line of a race I never agreed to run. “One of our elders,” they said—like a museum piece with a pulse. I’m still discovering what that word asks of me. It’s not…
Read MoreThe Wind Blows heavy Lila-Josey James __________ I look through the transom with two coffees in hand. There’s a pink in the clouds like peaches. We spin out the polished revolving door, and are emptied onto the street. The crosswind hits Marie in the face while brushing past me. Immediately,…
Read MoreOn Death & Dating Morgan Rose-Marie __________ It is fall 2016. The single, sky-blue folder sitting in the top-right corner of my desktop antagonizes me. The white letters of its title spell “Megan”—the name of one of my closest friends. I met her at work—she taught biology in the classroom…
Read MoreThe Atlantic Grace Ann Elinski __________ I’ve tried to drown myself in the Atlantic a plethora of times. I say drown lightly. Once or twice on purpose, the number blurred by the waves and liquor, other times just so drunk that maybe I might have drowned. Obviously, every time, I…
Read MoreEveryone at the Sand Sculpting Contest, Imperial Beach, California, 1985 Lynn Mundell __________Jennifer says none of us have any imagination or experience, so we should make a sand Pop-Tart, which will require zero skill. We all stand around in different colored bikinis like a box of crayons melting in the…
Read MoreOne Long Sunday Afternoon of Oblivion Vanessa Blakeslee __________ Dust kicked up from beneath the tires as the unmarked utility van before me abruptly veered to the right, down the gravel lane toward the Scenic Overlook. At first, the many utility and moving vans that kept pulling off of Highway…
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