Out of My Hands Gustavo Pérez Firmat __________ It happened one night, not likein the movie. In a rage, lookingfor the empty bottles, I grippedthe 40-lb trash bag carelesslywith three fingers, right and left,the middle, the anular, the pinkie,three times two, six frail failingfingers, incompetently digital,ripping the bag up and…
Read MoreAlpine Clutch, Grief, & Hallucinations Alison Harney __________ Alpine Clutch That summer we climbed a ski slope,a mountain lashed, yellow budsand grasses attempting to cover the scars. The incline leaned close to our chests,as our breath grew shallow and quick.We noticed the insignificance of the village below, how the mazeof…
Read MoreTrip to Joshua Tree, Life Drawing, & Engagement Merridawn Duckler __________ Trip to Joshua Tree Rocks pile up like slabs of clay in a beginner pottery class. We cut them with a wire, my favoritepart. I didn’t care about vessels then. I just wanted to part clay. Humming the U2…
Read MoreLet’s Go For a Walk, Into the Cave, & You Do You Do Ashley Hudson __________ Let’s Go for a Walk Lately we are convincingour friends not to be so cruel to themselves. The magnoliasdropping their annoying empty cups. The tiny cactus giving overone invisible briar. We come to the…
Read MoreEntomology J.M.J. Brewer __________ Day 43. Nine Mansion Members remained in the game. Angie awoke atop a dead arm because it was difficult to sleep comfortably in a bed shaped like a banana peel. This season’s Island Mansion! theme was “Inspecting Insects,” and in turn the Destitute Room theme was…
Read MoreLetter from the Editor Vallie Lynn Watson __________ Imagine all the People This issue marks a resounding whoop of an end to my first full calendar year at McNeese, and the collaborative effort behind this issue is woven of such lovely threads I will always treasure from my first year.…
Read MoreMichael Robins Michael Robins is the author of five books of poetry, most recently The Bright Invisible (Saturnalia Books, 2022). His recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Puerto del Sol, The Common, New England Review, and Poetry magazine. He lives in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he teaches in the MFA program at McNeese State University. Visit…
Read MoreGwenyth Wheat Gwenyth Wheat is a MFA/MA candidate at McNeese State University. She is the Assistant Poetry Editor for the McNeese Review and a writing tutor for MSU. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Great…
Read MoreKarris Rae Karris Rae is a fiction MFA/MA candidate at McNeese State University. She is also a fiction editor for The McNeese Review and managing editor of Boudin. Her chapbook, We Obedient Children, won the 2024 Etchings Press Chapbook Contest in prose. Her short work has recently appeared or is…
Read MoreTonight John Brantingham __________ It’s 2ambefore I noticethe snow in the streetlight coming downin fat wet flakes.It’s an inch thick on the road, and no one’sdriven this way yet.Sirens are whining and so far from methat they’re soft as birdsong.The blue light of my neighbor’s televisionis playingoff his curtains. I…
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