Rubus 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…
Read MoreFall Feasts: Nov. ’24 Editor: Vallie Lynn Watson Managing Editor: Karris Rae Associate Editor: Taryn White Assistant Editors: Robbie Hess, Leah Jiazi, Jade Morgan, Meilyn Woods Crystal White, “Enough to Go Around,” photograph Letter from the Editor by Vallie Lynn Watson Letter from the Guest Editor by Taryn White Prose…
Read MoreEditor: Vallie Lynn Watson Managing Editor: Karris Rae Guest Editor: Abbie Skinner Assistant Editors: Taryn White, Meilyn Woods Deborah Elam, “Witch’s Brew,” graphic design Letter from the Editor by Vallie Lynn Watson Letter from the Guest Editor by Abbie Skinner Skinner Prize Winner “Monsters,” “Child’s Play,” & “Bring the Nightmares…
Read MoreGood Friday Julia Johnson __________ Today even crueler than yesterday, you in your suit, tucked in, great and holy Friday. I keep you in the book I do not hold. The brave clouds roll in. Maybe you were meant to balance a glass on your head in my dream. Maybe…
Read MoreFrom Inside Hollow Walls Melanie Whithaus __________ When we were young, my husband witnessed his friend die. It happened during the summer, right before the midwestern heat got too unbearably hot. I never knew this friend, except for that she loved pink and butterflies, as most seven-year-old girls do. I…
Read MoreMidsummer, Again Lee Upton __________ It was that day again, the day when he’d have to terrify the actors. Actors! These particular actors weren’t even legitimate actors. They had no training, no technique. Puck couldn’t help sneering. He sneered every time the actors came out to rehearse in the woods.…
Read MoreMachine Gun Secrets Meg Tuite __________ Flee the folk who hunt us. It is endurance, hopping over deranged legacies and lack of fantasy to keep hidden within the tall, wet grass of expression. We examine the space before us. Spend more time at this then sleep. Privy to all songbirds,…
Read MorePlaying with the Wizard Dawn Sperber __________ Sure, he was a charmed minstrel, a fine carpenter, a grunt laborer, and a timeless wizard, but what stands out to me as a heartbreakingly lovely quality is this: Matti told himself elaborate nightly bedtime stories. Deep inside that elven man’s mind, as…
Read MoreThe Nightmare House Sam Ruddick __________ We live in a haunted house. It is unusual in that it is haunted by the living. Multiple moments occur at the same time in the same place, past iterations of ourselves overlapping. We are making love in the center of the bed, our…
Read MoreDodo Richard Peabody __________ I am the Dean, this is Mrs. Liddell.She plays first, I, second fiddle. — Oxford Undergraduate Doggerel Time to wake him. He looks so frail. And sadly, migraines have again twisted the soft features she cherishes into a diabolical death mask. Something worthy of math wizards…
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