By Salvatore Difalco After my ship-in-a-bottle succumbedto self-engendered thunderstorms,I turned to war and fashioned a workcomposed of pheasant skulls and bones,some blackened with charcoal or blood,all gathered under a classic glass cloche.Battles and wars, battles and wars,that is how I approached this probeinto the darker country of man,ranging the skulls like gas masks,stitching feathers and … Continue reading Stormtroopers Advancing Under Glass
Memory Cells
By Luchang Zhu Are there two identical clouds in the sky?If not,why does this one feel familiar, like a cloud from my hometown returning unannounced?Are there two identical people on the planet?If not,why does your presence stir something in me, like B cells recognizing a second encounter?Are there two identical days in a life?If not,why … Continue reading Memory Cells
How You Know I’m Goofing Off and Not Around
By James Croal Jackson Because I’ll be standing on a stackof tasks, procrastinatingunder the banana moongrabbing the confetti tailof sun in one hand, and in the otherpetting the catof my dreams, the one stillwith wings, purringas it falls to sleep. James Croal Jackson is a Filipino-American poet working in film production. His latest chapbook is A … Continue reading How You Know I’m Goofing Off and Not Around
Once Upon an AOL Chatroom
By Kim Hayes My life started in June,1996. AOL, or more formally, America Online, in the 90s turned into the method people used for internet access. I installed the program on my computer one night in June of that year. Those first few nights I’d spend a couple of hours poking around. There were channels, … Continue reading Once Upon an AOL Chatroom
Mom’s Magic Carpet
By Tim Law "Mom's Magic Carpet" was originally published in the Journeys IV anthology I close my eyes and I feel her near. I know that this must be a dream, but I wish with all my heart that it wasn’t. “Hi, Mom,” I whisper to the night. The sound of familiar, but far off … Continue reading Mom’s Magic Carpet
A World Where Men Never Die
By Ha-rin She arrived in their world dressed in white, like a question no one had asked. Everything there felt too beautiful, too still—trees shimmered as if they had never known decay, waterfalls poured endlessly without losing force, and sunlight rested on the land as though time itself had stopped to admire it. The people … Continue reading A World Where Men Never Die
Letter To My Five-Year-Old Self
By Mia Remience Dear Five-Year-Old Self, I still have an image of you painted in my mind. I know that you wish for long, luscious locks like a Disney princess, yet your hair remains in a tragically non-royal bob. Your rounded face carries apples for cheeks, eyes that widen at the very thought of how … Continue reading Letter To My Five-Year-Old Self
While He Waits
By K.F. Black “Patience is virtrue.” “What?” “Patience is virtrue!” Wally said again, louder this time. Papa had told him to collect smiles while he was gone, and Wally was very good at following directions. “Papa says so!” The man barely looked at him. He just turned back to the receptionist and slapped a hand … Continue reading While He Waits
Against a Past Life
By Riana Jicha Her honesty strikes through the bitterness of reality. Formations of life transfigure into one. Uncertainty rises as she does. The blend of today and tomorrow cascades through the night. The moon and the stars declare His glory. The celestial light illuminates her past and spotlights the future. Images hasten past as memories; … Continue reading Against a Past Life
The Drift
By Dhaanvi Jaipuriar The tide isn’t coming in; it’s a slow hemorrhageleaking through the floorboards, a salt-crustcalcifying the mahogany until the room is a reefof everything you’ve tried to bury.You navigate a hallway of doors that openinto more hallways, each one tapering,smelling of damp cedar and the ozone-stinkof a storm that refuses to break.A sturgeon … Continue reading The Drift
Academy of the Heart And Mind 