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…
Tag: Featured Writers
“I Felt a Funeral In My Brain” and “The Poets”
I Felt a Funeral In My Brain And the ghosts, as they flooded through my veins dragged a coffin made of bone through vines of tendon and muscle torn I feel the scraping in my chest hauntings deep within my flesh thorns of knowing blind my eyes cursed or blessed with second sight the ghouls,…
“I Want to be Soft” and Other Poems
I want to be soft around the edges Blue skies filled with coffee lady bugs dancing in my heart stomach full of butterflies Swirling around my lungs made of paper Soft Soft Soft like the words whispered into the night ‘I dont wanna be made of stone’ Begging the gods Praying to the moon the…
To the Shopkeeper on the Corner in East Jerusalem
The author of this essay requested that their name be withheld.–ed From the first day I moved into the neighborhood until the day I left in a hurry, I went to your shop. Your brother was always the only one there, serving the neighborhood kids who would come with their mother’s money clutched tightly in…
Losing your Grip
The coffee cup shattered on the kitchen tiles, shards exploding to all corners of the room. The thick black liquid turned amber on the sand-coloured floor, an elegant splat that moulded itself into something like a crescent moon. Alastair stood there for a moment, bemused. This had never happened before. Oh he had knocked a…
The Lore of Rich Kid Drugs
Reggie declared that rich kids like opiates from their parents’ medicine cabinets and buy Adderall from the back pocket of another private school kid and snort coke off of smooth knuckles. Nobody gets arrested; they get sent to rehab. “Weed,” Reggie proclaimed, standing on the break room couch for his lecture’s finale, “Is whattells these…
Moved
Delilah’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking. It frustrated her. As a Surveyor at the Glass Park, she was meant to look firm. Slightly intimidating. Most of the time, the park was closed off to the public. Countless bottles laid out across the land. Daffodils stood inside; fragile, but incredibly important. On the first day of spring,…
Against Book Bans: Mirrors and Windows
Mirrors. Windows. Lonely. Alone. Cover the mirror. Your place is clear. Close a window. So much you won’t know. Mirrors. Windows. A child needs both. Rudine Sims Bishop, the mother of multicultural children’s literature was the first to explain that, in order to get a balanced view of the world every child needs mirrors and…
SAT Students and Boundaries
One of the perils of opening our magazine up to any submission is that you occasionally get a submission like this. The author requested we withhold their name to protect their identity and the identity of their SAT students. Enjoy! -Ed. SAT Students, Boundaries, Humours You have to know your students, and you have to…
Home and other Poems
Home wherever you lead,I hope your love leavesa map engraved upon myheart that I can trace witha touch and follow back tolinen sheets and tucked awayweekends that suckle awaySundays dry, until all we haveto drink is our bubbly laughterand fall asleep at dawn, oncewe’ve tired of sharing breadand conversation and tradingsecret glances, whisper touches,I ache…