You may be thinking about submitting a piece of writing to this magazine. You may be wondering what the guidelines for submission are. The main one is: let’s talk. Let me know you want to submit a piece. Show it to me. If it’s too long we’ll publish it in installments. If it’s a bit…
Category: 2 Rules The Magazine
Onward and Upward and Inward
“Arrey Sambhal ke!”(Hey, be careful!) I heard the guide shout. Except, it was just one second too late. My shoe caught on a rock and I slid down the slope, the terrifying act happening so quickly that I didn’t even register it. And I’m glad that the slope was gentle and my slide ended with…
“Picking Olives” and “Water as transitive”
Picking Olives Picking olives feels likePopping bubblewrapSatisfying thwap!Fingers pressSlight give Serotonin rush Or maybe it’s the other way around MaybeJust maybeMy need to runItching and burningAt my legsIs just my great222GrandparentsRunning all dayAgainst the windAgainst the elk and deerAgainst the wilting of the grains The chewing on pencilsIs my DNA longingFor my perfect WhiteTeeth to…
Lace
I wear a suit of armour made of lace. Just pretty enough to distract you Maybe catch your eye across the room But too pretty to avoid your undesired attention Your finger chafed the last of my lacy defence It slithered up and down the effortlessly penetrable thread Swooping every curve Memorising its patterns…
Mount Olympus High: Atalanta
Heart thumping, feet pounding, and muscles burning. Atalanta breathes in the cold, fresh air, and all other thoughts leave her mind as she focuses only on one thing; the finish line. To outsiders, she is a bolt of lightning streaking down the track, leaving her competition in the dust. Atalanta bounds and leaps gracefully, footfalls…
For you to Stay
If I could have lobbied the gods for you to stay,I would have sunk to my knees.Asked them to choose any price.Diamonds and gold and dignity forjust one change: all the times I was too tired,too impatient,turn them to kindness. And if their glacial eyes did not seem too shocked, I would add,let me remember to…
The Dining Table
Day comes and he brandishes a small pocket-knife, silver and whetted; he sticks it in my back and the blade twists in my body, drawing not only blood but a soundless cry as well. It’s hard to practice indifference and even harder to let a wingless bird go, so I cut myself open and this…
Ties that Bind
I’m going to tell you the story Da told me, and he says he got it from his own Da, Bill Verling. I don’t remember him – he died when I was about two – but Da swears up and down that Granda always spoke about what he saw that night in awe. Granda wasn’t…
“leukemia,” “die doktor,” “process & finale”
leukemia blood ate from his body wrapped in radiation. his tongue embrace the nectar that his mouth spills out. a hummingbird hovers above his lips—still nothing new. still the body caves onto itself. still there are little whispers to find the sick dying, & sick are dying. worms detect his eyes; sparrows discover the worms….
What about the Rain?
It was misting again. It felt like it was always misting, making everything constantly damp and unpleasant while weighing the air down. The young woman quietly pulled out a cigarette and lit it, feeling guilty and rebellious at the same time. She knew smoking was bad, but she didn’t care. It gave her an excuse…
Our Father
CW: Medical stuff. Grief: a universal language, and yet when spoken, nobody speaks back. A silence that echoes, and who to hear if one is without faith? Aimless prayers and purple knees, the concrete floor is cold, the silence is colder. Nobody is listening, but I’m not ready to stand up just yet. Odours of…