By Rizwan Sahib Bodies flatline on the heat wave,and that’s the good. The bad: after the argument, I flung my broad-brimmed hat into the back seat,and left it there. Now I feel like I’ve been whacked on the head by a cricket bat. Someone says to sit in the shade. If only we could trade … Continue reading Afternoon Thoughts in Katoomba
Blue Light
By Margaret Sattler The bedroom was dim. Hazy light filtered through a crack in the plastic blinds, forming a line on his face. What time is it? His ears were ringing. Groggily, he felt for his phone on the bedside table—a strange weight on his chest. The phone wasn’t there. That woke him. He looked … Continue reading Blue Light
Dora Marr
By Antonia Hildebrand Women are suffering machines, Picasso said.And then he did everything he could to make it true.Poor Dora loved him.She was an artist herself,but he immortalized her as The Weeping Woman,without ever admitting, he was the onewho made her weep.Dark haired, beautiful, gifted and intense,she fell for him.Her photography was innovative and radical.So … Continue reading Dora Marr
Reflections on a day with my mother
By Grace Fisher Dance I pick through my day with youAdding up every moment spent apartIn the bathroom, on my phone, or at the barEach second feels like something I have lost Then, I draw out every moment when I was impatient, or upset, or didn’t encourage you to buy an ugly beach bagThis, too, … Continue reading Reflections on a day with my mother
Period.
By Ginger Keller Gannaway Viv watched the large wall clock’s red second hand make its way toward twelve while she said one more Hail Mary before the lunch bell clanged. She slid her unused loose leaf papers into a folder and placed the morning’s textbooks in the metal cavern beneath her wooden desk. She straightened … Continue reading Period.
Reading at the Parlor
By Ken Gosse They decided the Reaper was truly a keeper,his poetry earning their membership’s yearning,a group which would meet once their days were completeyet before their last showing, while tears were still flowing.The prep nearly finished, with hopes undiminishedthat they’d read again to a group with a yenfor their poetry’s call which would clearly … Continue reading Reading at the Parlor
Nomenclature
By Richard Weaver Blue mountains rising, century after centuryawakening to fall again. To rise anew, yearning for a hand like rain waking from sleep, after dreaming in green water blackening beneath cypresses. A drowned moon afloat in its troubles. And hills of brazen angels. Blue mountains reigning. His first published poem appeared in Poetry Magazine … Continue reading Nomenclature
The Shape of Love
By Hossein Hakim Love is the longing to simply be near,To feel their presence when they're not here.A whisper missed, a silent room—Yet in your heart, their flowers bloom.Love is the pull of a gentle embrace,The ache in your arms for a familiar face.A brush of fingers, a warming skin,A quiet fire that glows within.Love … Continue reading The Shape of Love
A Dire Situation
By Craig Borri It was a sweltering August day, but that didn’t deter the three reporters waiting outside the gate. The gate was part of a ten-foot-tall fence enclosing a 2,000 acre forest preserve. Two lab assistants had just deposited several pounds of meat inside the fence, and their guide, Dr. Anne Phillips, had just … Continue reading A Dire Situation
July Hybrid Contest: Gold Winner: “The Final Credits” by Sarah Wolfe
The Final Credits Directed by A sentimental, young soul Written by A silver-haired body with liver-spotted hands and shaky knees, lips that can’t speak out loud but whisper to the mind Produced by Mama and Tata; two immigrants with one busted suitcase. Pregnant with a child and a new, bustling city Cast (in order of … Continue reading July Hybrid Contest: Gold Winner: “The Final Credits” by Sarah Wolfe
Academy of the Heart And Mind 