Poetry: “Carrying Grandfather” by Jessie Li

Carrying Grandfather I didn’t know you, except once, when I visited, and you peeled those Chinese pears for me – slinking the dulled, rusted knife across the skin. You smiled, I smiled. I counted your freckles, their withered yellow, like faded marigolds. I remember wanting to touch your aged, leathery skin. Later, I didn’t know […]

Poetry: “Justified Twitch” by Max Lewin

Justified Twitch I made my mind down by the river of euphemism, most playful species of meta -phor. The river ran me round fora for a few years, pebbled my perma -stonedness, taught me to speak with rocks -tarred, defeated eyes minus groupies and the hard stuff. You don’t get it -chy, don’t get soma […]

Poetry: “Ode to an Oldsmobile” by Max Lewin

Ode to an Oldsmobile My dear boat, your windows are caked with the sticky residue of long since torn-off parking permits. Your right side-mirror dangles by a wire; I see the floppy white ear of a bashful dog. Cassette plastic crunches underfoot, shards of a misplaced Sun-Ra bootleg whose magnetic music once resonated through fragrant […]

Poetry: “Lineage” by SR Stewart

SR Stewart is an MFA student in poetry. Her poetic focus stems from the works of Berryman, Plath, and Bukowski. She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest farming her garden and working as the associate acquisitions editor for Unsolicited Press.

Spring 2014 Issue

We present the Spring 2014 issue, fresh off the presses. Click on the image below to download a PDF.

Poetry: “Garbage Girl” by Glorianne Outlaw

Garbage Girl Dad chucks trash onto an already full heap. I sit on the roof of the ’82 Silverado and watch. The skin of my legs below the edges of my shorts burn on the truck roof as the valley sun tries to turn me into a puddle. But I’m ok where I am because […]

From the Archives: “An Ode to Ellipses” by Chen Kasher

You were your own deep exterior; a shallop That took one rower; A sink whose slush sounded like a rill; Ballast so cubed in blue-black water Sometimes you sensed your own depth. You were the sleepy steamed broccoli; the travel Serendipity; the room whose light Stayed up past 3 A.M.; The goldfish that prayed for […]

Poetry: “Thornton Dial and Flesh-Eating Beatles” by Carrie Meadows

Thornton Dial & Flesh-Eating Beetles Two bobcats, a deer, a cow’s head, a Labrador retriever, all in a heavy-duty lawn & leaf bag. When the bones’ve been cleaned by beetles, weight and gravity disappear. If pheromones spread to marrow, then ladybugs will come here this winter to sleep and die, leaving trails of yellow blood […]

Poetry: “Peruvianus” by Jacob Riyeff

Peruvianus Making love to February air; staring out at neon lights freezing. Droning into a rising sun and drinking soma in the mind— this beatific brace stunting every thought and settles simply with a longing laugh. Jacob Riyeff currently studies medieval literature at the University of Notre Dame. When not spending time with his family, […]

Poetry: “This Way to the Tower” by Kristine Ong Muslim

This Way to the Tower Your faulty timekeeping device has finally brought you here. How the city teems with bodies, the bodies of those who dismembered their mute citizens. What remains is the taut spirit of morning, its dew-stricken air made denser by swirling debris— and you now understand that not everything is allowed to […]