spring 2019
Table of Contents
Return to Home PageSix Thousand Dollars Cole Depuy
When the Time Comes Soothing Cameron Morse
orange socks there are bad men at the top Kate LaDew
Across This Body First Generation The Wall Jeni De La O
Sophocles Martin Kippenberger's Bicycle Charles Kell
Tensions Orange Bottles Sean Singer
Imperfection David Sapp
Terrigenous Michelle Mitchell-Foust
I Am Allowed to Break Up With You Amy Kenny
Sixteen Weeks in the Caribbean Apartment Laura McGavin
Catastrophe that Nearly Brought Down a Plane Sabyasachi Nag
Against All Odds Mary Lou Soutar-Hynes
Magnetic Resonance Lisa Mulrooney
Imperfection
A while ago, a doctor
measured my heartbeat
and declared it failed
to operate as most
other men and women,
its peaks and depressions
too high, too deep,
unusual in its thumping.
“That sounds about right,”
I said, conceding my flaw
and proceeded to think
nothing of the verdict.
Just recently, Lisa, the nurse,
a nice young woman
whom I made laugh
a little, took a scan,
a picture of my belly
and caught another fault
at the very hub of me,
my thrombosis, my obstacle.
It might have been more
telling if she simply poked
at my middle with her finger
and said, “There, right
there, is your imperfection,
the source of your suffering.”