Unexpected Showers by Tobi Alfier

  · Unexpected Showers · by Tobi Alfier   The rain, oh so sweetly on the roof— sound of imagination, shutter-snap of camera recording hills and mist, a family in happier times in parkas and smiles, razors of droplets caught by trees, no wind to rip chunks off desert-baked skin, tender and gentle.   A…

A Birthday Letter by Zoë Wells

· A Birthday Letter · by Zoë Wells   One day I’ll meet you in the streets of south London Twenty years from now When all this is long   Said and done, saying how Strange it is the way time flies. We’ll get coffee anyhow   In a small café, avoiding eyes Like you…

Santa Baby by Meg Sefton

· Santa Baby · by Meg Sefton   There is a man I see from the dating site I call Santa. He calls me Cupcake even though I asked him from the beginning to call me by my given name. He did once, in a text, but ever since, it’s been “Doll” or “Cupcake.” I…

“There are worse things than a dead kid,” I think, by Alexis Rhone Fancher

· “There are worse things than a dead kid,” I think, · by Alexis Rhone Fancher when I hear the latest, secondhand, about my niece. My sister no longer mentions her when she calls, and I’m afraid to ask, afraid my sister will crumble. I have watched her decline mirror that of her daughter’s; each…

‘Christmas Morning’ by Catherine Arra

· Christmas Morning · by Catherine Arra   We teeter at the top step wait while you stretch one arm and groan the other arm yawn, wrap yourself in the terry robe, the shock of your Elvis pompadour awry, licks of black fire crowning olive skin, round Roman eyes. We wiggle and whine, “C’mon Daddy, hurry…

Gill, Massachusetts by Carla Drysdale

· Gill, Massachusetts · by Carla Drysdale We must live here for now, in the interstitial yet formative surprise to the moment of next surprise when the dog presents its friendly self. A boat plows the lake, leaving a white rippled arrow in its wake. Places of the interstitial to enter into— a place of…

‘God is Nigh’ by Christine Baerbock

· God is Nigh · by Christine Baerbock   Ten bucks got me a night of whiskey shots. Nine o’clock I headed home. Eight inches of snow on the ground. Seven degrees Fahrenheit. Six cigarettes left in my pack. Five stop signs until I get home. Four Walls by Jim Reeves on the radio. Three sheets…

A Recipe For Modern Life by Kristianne Drake

· A Recipe For Modern Life · by Kristianne Drake Ingredients: 2 handfuls of optimism A swoosh of guilt 6 pulses of anxiety (daily) 1 peeled heart 4 ripe unwanted memories Numerous pieces of previously disregarded experiences you are trying to forget Unlimited unrequited love Method: Carefully sieve the unwanted memories into a bowl with…

‘*’ by Simon Perchik

· * · by Simon Perchik Finished –-no new graves though yesterday you counted boats --side by side, adrift breaking apart under the rocks --done! here you are adding rafts to the way each sea long ago learned how deep inside the storm there must be a very big number --a half-finished arithmetic where you…