Poetry

“A Prairie Girl Dreams a Slice”

By Cristalle Smith
of pizza from Federici’s downtown. Olive oil garlic knots in a brown paper bag. Connor’s got ㅤ new Vans and wants to grind rails near the wintry Atlantic. But in Freehold, NJ...

“Logical Reasoning”

By Jade Y. Liu
You are born into noise. / Your first memories perforated by the sharp slam / of kitchen cabinet doors, / throat-sung Tibetan folk songs, / the heavy rattle of a wok glossy...
Contest Winner

“when I told my father I wanted to die: a contrapuntal”

By Kristin Gustafson
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Contest Winner

“How I stopped fearing elevators and other confined spaces”

By Délani Valin
At walk-in counselling in the strip mall by the beach, they quiz me on their intake form: what have you done to solve the problem yourself? I’ve set a timer, I’ve minded...
Contest Winner

“My ancestor’s body is a beloved ecosystem”

By Alycia Pirmohamed
Her skin is a concatenate of resin solvent and wax, a discontinuous film of belonging in a discontinuous composition of time. There is a dark zone of ink cropping up in her...
Contest Winner

“in search of a second opinion”

By Roshni Riar
in the lobby, i crave ice-cold masala coke. the brisk taste of home, bubbles filling my throat to near eruption. when having heartburn meant to be human, to truly exist. ㅤ in...
Contest Winner

“origin story, with crow”

By Alexander Hollenberg
—on the occasion of Earth Day 2023 ㅤ The crow’s wing is a blade slicing the ocean open: ㅤ inside, the usual offal—birds’ nests of old transatlantic cable, fists of seagrass ㅤ...

“Horse Girls”

By Kayleigh Cline
for JL, et al. ㅤ We are horse girls, you and I, dreaming of destrier muscles and cathedral-arch ㅤ necks, of hooves hard- packing earth, and of dust-kissed ㅤ lashes splitting sunlight...

“Eels”

By Paul Vermeersch
You consulted your zodiac, and your sign had changed to eels. You wrote a personality test, and the results came back eels. You drew seven cards, and the cups and the stars...