The Iteration of Matrices Cheryl Snell __________ Kittentangledin bedclotheswatches her mistressknead the dough. Stretching itshe folds it, layering it for winter warmth,filling the slimness of nothing with possibilities. Later, when she lifts a cornerof blanket, she’ll discover a single green eyefloating in fabric, switching tailpoking a holeelsewhere. Mapsofnappingcats explaininexplicables─ how…

Labor Lucy Zhang __________ A son who thinks himself a spider tries to save itself from the jaws of a Venus flytrap. To have a second chance at life, legs crushed between teeth, guts half digested? I would never eat my baby, like I would never trap him in a…

Bienvenue Michelle Rose __________ andouille, boudin, cracklins, dirty rice, étouffée, filé, gumbo, jambalaya, on fait lagniappe ici, maque choux, pain perdu, beaucoup roux, c’est si bon, laissez les bons temps rouler rolling off tongues, hands greasy, feet dancing, plates refilled and refilled again, stories told too loud and twice, laughter…

Stolen Luck Julia Rajagopalan __________ I look at the cake on the counter, admiring its colorful sprinkles. I want a slice more than I want my next breath. “Take one,” Amanda says. “No one has gotten the baby yet. It’s good luck.” “I’m on a diet.” “Calories don’t count on…

My Prerogative Leah Mueller __________ Some people aren’t cut out to be strippers. When I applied to a Bourbon Street club, the owners sent me to their sister establishment, Papa Joe’s. It was a grungy, unisex joint. A woman named Tammy served as its undisputed queen. Her act seemed more…

Bathtub Divorce-Tears Gin Matthew Jakubowski __________ I’m on my ass naked in three inches of bathwater in my divorce apartment. Because life has jokes, on top of the divorce that spring I broke my foot dancing this summer. It’s slung over the side of the tub in a huge fiberglass…

Hairbrush Amanda Hadlock __________ I cleaned out my hairbrush and realized my ex-girlfriend’s hair was stuck in it. I pulledthe clumps out and tossed them off my apartment balcony, watched them float down to the dirt. Then I boiled the brush to get any last trace of her out. I…

House Shoe Scott Garson __________ She lost a house shoe. Did she know this already? Or was she having the realization? She looked at the other house shoe, which stood by the molding next to the door, and tried to recall, and hummed a line of tune, this in a…

The Forest of Me Garima Chhikara __________ Just like that, my body hair became thorns. I stopped shaving—arms, underarms, legs, even my upper lip—and abandoned threading my eyebrows, which need tending to resemble eyebrows at all. In the first few weeks, my hair was like grass that tickled my partner’s…

The Ghost of Proust in Mom’s Room Mileva Anasatasiadou __________ Proust doesn’t talk but he’s taking notes. He stares at Mom like she owns wisdom, and I stare at him, like he can teach me. He once had it all, then lost everything, then spent his days chasing after whatever…