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Good Friday and People Are at Their Telescopes

Good 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…

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From Inside Hollow Walls

From 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…

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Machine Gun Secrets

Machine 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,…

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Cycle

Cycle Susan Tepper __________ Meditations on dear Petrov Set in 19th Century Russia during a time of war There is no beginning or end.   Springtime grasses brown quickly only to be buried under snow.  An avalanche.  This cycle, dear Petrov.  Having no one.  How I do dread.  Wishing to…

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The Nightmare House

The 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…

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Midnight in the Valley of Spam

Midnight in the Valley of Spam Steve Almond __________ Dear Sir, my name is  ________ ________. I am the Prince of a faraway land, though I live now in the kingdom of Disgrace. A Great Treasure has been taken from me. Stolen. Looted, sir. For this reason I now request…

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All Flash: Spice of Life, Jan ’24

All Flash: Spice of Life ’24 Editor: Vallie Lynn Watson Managing Editor: Abbie Skinner Guest Editor: Aiman Tariq Assistant Editors: Karris Rae, Taryn White, Meilyn Woods Editorial Assistants: Mia Bonds, Alexandria Knight Digby Beaumont, Frida Kahlo, acrylic over ink Letter from the Editor by Vallie Lynn Watson Letter from the…

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Lily: A Found Flash of All Thirteen Stories

Lily: A Found Flash of All Thirteen Stories Mia Bonds and Alexandria Knight, Editorial Assistants __________ I’m interested in this place. It was staggering to witness. Branches bent like ostriches, afraid to look. Sometimes, slivers of light would invade, indicating the buildings were wooden slats. She’s wearing a black trench…

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Letter from the Guest Editor

Letter from the Guest Editor Aiman Tariq __________ Life as a woman is an intricate web of societal expectations. Hailing from Pakistan, a culture deeply rooted in patriarchy that further derives strength from culture and religion, I, instead of taking the usual route of lifelong subservience in the form of…

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Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor Vallie Lynn Watson __________ Confession: I didn’t know what boudin was until about six months ago, when I learned that one of the perks of my wonderful new gig teaching in the MFA program at McNeese State University (Lake Charles, LA) was inheriting the relatively-new magazine…

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