fall 2015
Table of Contents
Return to Home Page
Why, And for What Purpose
Is There Something
Ace Bogess
what do you talk about
desire derives pleasure
aren't we missing every thing
gary lundy
Brains Lost to the Earth Melissa Nelson
Saturday Night
Charles Springer
Can't Stomach Mitchell Grabois
The Stale Cold Smell of Morning
Angela Rebrec
Darkening Over Still Water Richard King Perkins II
Fault Vodka / Blame Juice Jamie Sharpe
Girl I
Girl II
Carolyn Supinka
The Day Everyone Realized Ron Riekki
A Fire Hydrant on Camino de la Amapola
Good to See You
Eleanor Kedney
the neighbors knew i divined water
Hell is hot
Allison DeLauer
Yellow Flowers
The World Dream
Ann Filemyr
revenge/reincarnation annie ross
The Story of Chitin Giri Zoe Dagneault
Alcohol
Fast-slow Continuum
Peycho Kanev
The Insidious Susurration
A Conversation
Marie-Andree Auclair
A Monday The Devil Valentina Cano
In the Cyberspace Icicle Changming Yuan
QED A Moth In Rain Christopher Patton
a rose is a rose is a rose manhattan Nikki Reimer
(Ouverture) Garry Thomas Morse
Word on the Street
Henry Rappaport


The Insidious Susurration of Mongrels
Before I refined fear’s fetters
into protective hands
and memory tightened my leash
there was the hell breath
of mongrels dogging me
fangs, nails in my ankles
to the edge of the cliff
—do not soar—
to the borderline
—do not cross—
—stay put, look no farther—
the shouts, the whispers.
Beware, you don’t know
what comes next.
Our warnings—
You’ll get hurt, maimed, shamed.
Stay safe.
What if you fail, what if
and then what?
And we stick to you
since you feed us.
Hesitation is our nectar
and shivers of recoil our lifeblood.
That sense of futility?
Our daily meat.
We barked doubts
at you
till you
tighten your own tethers
because
there is always the chance
you’ll abandon us
to our sooty smoke
and taste a bright sky.