Abby Manzella __________ Photos by Abby Manzella __________ At a Highway Seventy-Five fields blur after harvest corn is scythed hay bales sag Stop. Thoreau yourself with a pause and a pace. Take in the fading light. Dried grass and setting sun speak of endings and death or nature appreciation. The choice is yours. __________ Between the…
Read MoreZebulon Huset __________ Written as part of the Exquisite Cento project with Jessica Huset __________ [Only lines from Robert Lowell, Robert Frost, and Script for The Lost Boys] They are speeding along a moon-lit beach(ocean air!)redolent and roly-poly as a sperm whaleHey, dude. My beach. My wave—it is speckled with…
Read MoreJessica Huset __________ Written as part of the Exquisite Cento Project with Zebulon Huset __________ [Only lines from Lord Byron, Thomas Lux, and the script for The Princess Bride] (or I’ve hired you to help me start a war) To mingle with the quiet of her sky the quicksand pits they…
Read MoreSweeney Among the Alley Cats James Enelow __________καὶ εἶχον τρίχας ὡς τρίχας γυναικῶν, καὶ οἱ ὁδόντες αὐτῶν ὡς λεόντων ἦσαν.Rev. IX:8 Tonight old Sweeney sits amazedat sex and food he cannot taste.As king of cats he starts his watchto judge the thin and meekly chaste. The stars out back have…
Read MoreDeposition Answer Fragments Jeffrey H. MacLachlan __________ Q: State your name.A: Mary Q: Are you on medication?A: Yes, citalopram and Q: Describe the night in question.A: Leaves were corpse-crisp and ticking Q: How long did you work for Camp Crystal Lake?A: Since I turned sixteen Q: Nothing happened those first…
Read Moreafter-midnight umbra Jill Kitchen __________ brick brownstone painted red on a busy avenue, top floor open to brooklyn sky. from the roof, a wovencityscape of other rooftops, other chimneys, the scent of tar. manhattan’s lower skyline small enough tohold in a hand, catch fireworks in july. spiral staircase a tremble…
Read MoreDay of the Dead Deron Eckert __________ All the witches tell me the veil is thin,but all I can see from this side of the veilare the jack-o’-lantern’s innards coatedin a piceous film of speckled mold. Thisformerly spherical fellow’s eyes are windowsto a shallow void of nothingness. Supposeit’s not nothingness.…
Read MoreThe Ticking Clock Joseph L. Bensinger __________ The clock repeats its iron song,its pendulum a patient blade.The hours march, unbroken, strong,through shadow’s hush and daylight’s fade. Yet something waits between each chime,a silence thick, a breath held fast.The pause extends, distorting time,as if the next might be the last. Each…
Read More“Boo”din: The Ticking Clock, Oct ’25 Editor: Vallie Lynn Watson Managing Editor: Taryn White Guest Editor: Abbie Skinner Associate Editor: Leah Joseph Assistant Editors: Robbie Hess and Jade Turner Intern: Margaret Brantley Laura Jacob, “The Ticking Clock” Letter from the Editor by Vallie Lynn Watson Letter from the Guest Editor…
Read MoreEivind E. Olsen __________ Thin Leaf On a winter day, much like a day in fallexcept the trees are bare, I find a leafblown up from the yard, thin as a thumbprintand slightly larger than my own. Its brown skin is cracked and translucent:a ghost against a stone step;or a…
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