Lady of Long Silence and Restraint, these flailing words are predetermined to become more active than sound, for I have found myself again longing for a sacred heart. Hot and cold all at once, my fogged eyes have been ignored again by the spirits of the dead, and my prayers sound as though I am [...]
Mourning Run by Dawn Delvecchio
I live in a thatched bungalow by the sea. Palm trees reach skyward at my doorstep and a small cove of salty Andaman waters laps the beachside below. To the west rise a series of limestone rocks, some four to five hundred meters from the thick green jungle below. It is quiet here, but for [...]
Red Carpet by Laura Vladimirova
Cold, kisses on dove arms, skinny like the eyes of a starved dancer. 1989, flashbulbs bursting, sharp shards of lightning. Red Russian carpet lined the graceless walk. Closed my eyes, whispered the image of my father. Thin wispy lids, shaken by shrieks of neighbor’s sobs. Crying for the left behind aged parents, barking cocker spaniels, [...]
Coming Home by Nevada N. Scheffler
Summer’s long days were sleeping earlier. Dad and I sat on the brick railing around Grandma’s porch. He was eating an ice cream sandwich and smelled like a mixture of red dirt and diesel. A soft thud, thud from my sneakers hitting the bricks repeatedly echoed the drone of the oilrig that pumped tirelessly behind [...]
The Seeds by Felicia Sanzary Chernesky
like blood like ink when bit are bitter- what did you expect? tethered wife, you spend half the cold year below. reluctant sightseer, you can’t be held accountable who cannot be held. hush your pink mouth— wait for singing blossoms About the Author Felicia Sanzari Chernesky lives in Somerset County, New Jersey, with her husband [...]
Communidade by Melissa Lambert
Dr. Seuss may have been a frequent visitor to Nhangau. These marshes are filled with impossible plants and fantastical creatures: ghostly fluorescent trees with fat purple trunks, foot-long striped lizards, perfect lily pads and swaying cattails, pale blue flowers that stand straight out of calm clear ponds, huge intimidating birds with long colorful beaks. Patches [...]
The Quest for Jessamine by Eileen Tabios
Stone The Question is: With what Question do you sculpt the answer:“I write because I cannot paint.”She asks while what she is really considering is: As women lift their veils to reveal kohl-rimmed eyes in Afghanistan, is it the white-petalled jasmine whose sweet, haunting scent you and I now share? Teacher What moves the moon [...]
Dona Nobis Pacim by Beate Sigriddaughter
“May I go out to play in the ruins?” More often than not the answer was yes. I had my favorite spots. A small square of ground wall still standing felt like a house of my own. Another place I loved was the remains of an abandoned garden. Grass and small flowering weeds split through [...]
Lady Brave by Swahdi R.T.
A cracked ceramic cup of quickly cooling coffee on a dirty, tiled tabletop in need of a good wipe sat next to a small purse — 20 dollars and a pamphlet— of one who sat alone, in this grim, low-budget shop, as outside, the rain kept coming, like the waves of vague depression, sliding down [...]
Living in the Necropolis by Pat Tompkins
Blood. I see it everywhere. Nothing strange in that. It has replaced rain and fills the river. Perhaps the world always was this way. Another of the things people see and keep quiet about, as though silence makes it not so. Yesterday, I noticed a child in the square; she was talking to her doll, [...]
