spring 2018
Table of Contents
Return to Home PageThe Path Discoverer Taylor Bond
Naming Cow Field Danielle Hanson
Ice Skating in Holland Carol Hamilton
drowning man is not a superhero Aidan Chafe
Never the Desired Absence Nick Alti
He Ring Liar's Dice Confluence Derek Thomas Dew
Synonyms For Shelter Jill Talbot
Like André Derain David R. Dixon
Grim Reaper in Therapy Brandon Marlon
Sea Room / The Adrift Exhibit / Queer Lynx Joseph Spece
Wet Parable Duck Carver Nathan Curnow
First Ultrasound Second Ultrasound Stephanie Yorke
Push Armamentarium Adrienne Gruber
Dear Chepe Wilbur Melissa Weiss
Cracked Fabergé Egg Of Yes Lauren Turner
Trump As a Fire Without Light #665 Darren C. Demaree
Boxing Day Carlie Blume
an understanding Natasha Zarin
Boxing Day
i told my mother
on boxing day
what you did.
i wish you could have seen it
words sluicing her eyes shut
until the sting wore off enough
for her to open them
to deep sea sting
but really
how does a twelve-year-old find the words?
to say
she was
oyster shucked
feather plucked
pulled hard like fruit from a verdant branch
water spilled on the crotch of your pants
how you
grandfather
now have me on boxing day wondering
if even Father Christmas was cursed with a little child lust too
how does a twelve–year-old tell her mother?
that you courted my monkey bar craving
with a Wendy’s frosty
visits to the library
watched me dance around in overalls?
how I waited for the poison to enter her blood
veins charged clean with a cold smack of truth
a spat out tooth
bitter juice.
and I contemplate
how abrupt it is
when the radio stops playing carols
on boxing day.