Letter from the Guest Editor Karris Rae __________ I started on my first instrument when I was seven—my mom’s old snare drum, already dimpled from years of use. I didn’t stick with it long (how long could I spend on a single note?), but I’d have more luck with the…
Read MoreLetter from the Editor Vallie Lynn Watson __________ Last summer, I saw the best concert of my life, at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan. The band was Sparks, who originated in 1971; it remains painful to me that I did not discover Sparks until 2015. And there is a part…
Read MoreAll Hybrid: This Is It Editor: Vallie Lynn Watson Managing Editor: Abbie Skinner Guest Editor: Taryn White Assistant Editors: Karris Rae, Aiman Tariq, Meilyn Woods Editorial Assistants: Mia Bonds, Alexandria Knight Phil Cumber, Ghost Moon Letter from the Editor by Vallie Lynn Watson Letter from the Guest Editor by Taryn…
Read MoreSkin Junkie Angela Spinzig __________ I’m a perfectionist who self-harms. I line up my cuts in neat rows, perforate my arm as if it were a page in one of those intricate adult-therapy coloring books. I stay inside the lines, but use only red: The blush of embarrassment. The heat…
Read MoreAll 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…
Read MoreSixteen Rounds of Chemo Sara Pirkle __________ After a nurse pluckedthe IV from my portlike a wasp stingerand the rubber-tire tasteof Taxol faded— After the victorypicture was snappedand posted onlinefor hundreds ofstrangers to like— After fake smilingwhile a chorusof nurses serenadedas I dutifully rangthe treatment bell— I sank into the…
Read MorePost-Modern Polonius Anne Babson __________ “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell” – William Shakespeare Polonius stabbed behind tapestry — But audiences don’t mourn his murder. Hackneyed speeches are the real travesty. Today, when prose is cannon fodder, “There is nothing outside the text.” It bores, Bereft of meaning, say Doctors.…
Read MorePumpkin Ash and Cypress Knees Katherine Quevedo __________ Bald cypress thrusts its knees in knobby little spires just above the waterline. Pumpkin ash bulges at the base of its trunk, engorged with brackish drink. By moonlight, I can almost discern the red spikes of cardinal flowers craning their necks alongside…
Read MoreFeu-Follet Danelle Lejeune __________ This trace is what’s left of us. Look for the weight of light, the particles falling down like crumbs. The mass of the universe is choking, leaving lines, chain burns, in my flesh. These pieces of you, pieces of me, we are stardust. The music of…
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