Skin 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 MoreSnow-White Teeth in Dartmouth, The Visitors, & Sestina With Teeth Expanding Like A Lie Kenton K. Yee __________ SNOW-WHITE TEETH IN DARTMOUTH An old man lives inside my mirror. Get out! I shout. He shouts it back. I rinse my teeth. He opens his mouth and snaps it in place.…
Read MoreMusical Realism & English Juche Language Instruction Jeffrey H. MacLachlan __________ MUSICAL REALISM Sound is the preeminent element of capitalism because otherwise your attention floats elsewhere. I write in prose form because a demon stalks behind these lines, seeking enjambment space to lunge with xylophone molars. He’s black and white…
Read MoreLove Teeth & Putrefaction Kate Wright __________ LOVE TEETH In some Korean traditions, wisdom teeth are called “Love Teeth” because they come during adolescence and hurt like a first love. They come, as if out of nowhere, edging their way into your life slowly. First, a tingle, a hum, a…
Read MorePost Extraction Juleigh Howard-Hobson __________ It’s not simply the matter of the tooth coming out. There’s the gap, the open gum, the hole where there used to be a wall of solid teeth. You’ll never eat food again the same way, there will always be the blank space that no…
Read MoreEviction Notice from the Tooth Fairy & red is a spectrum Jaden Fong __________ EVICTION NOTICE FROM THE TOOTH FAIRY I fear that I have offended my teeth. They are as loose in my gums, bucking broncos in a gingivae stadium, but please, do not abduct them yet– these teeth…
Read Morejesus lost his milk teeth & he looked so much like his father Quinton Okoro __________ JESUS LOST HIS MILK TEETH all at once. he placed them, still warm, pulp still clinging to crown, into his mother’s hand. she bent over him, her palm flattened with expectation. these will make…
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…
Read More