By Khoi Pham His name was Dieter. I met him at our chess club’s annual gathering. That year, he was sixty-three, tall and slim, his silver hair was thinning and revealed a high and handsome forehead. I was the only Asian person there, and one of the few young faces in a crowd of elderly … Continue reading His name was Dieter
Scientist
By Dominik Slusarczyk I toss and turn all night. When the sun comes up enough that my room is brightly lit I give up on sleep and get out of bed. I drink three cups of coffee but I am so tired they barely help. I search my memory but find nothing. I have to … Continue reading Scientist
La Serenissima: on the way to Dorsoduro
By Jessica Ursell streaming out of Santa Luciathe steps of the station are slick from the soles of the soulsnewly arrived in this watery Eden collars up hoods onpacked tightly wind cold and crisp washing wavelets from the lagoon we waitto boardthe Venetian vaporetto as it bobs and brushes along the dock"baggage below" bellows the … Continue reading La Serenissima: on the way to Dorsoduro
Like Mother, Like Daughter
By Ernesto Sanchez My father was primitive. Barely half cybernetic, a second-generation cerebral implant. Not a being fit for the 22nd century. "Laina, why don't we have lunch sometime. Please? It's been years," he used to say before the accident. I cut him off. Surgically removing the emotional pathways that caused me to miss him … Continue reading Like Mother, Like Daughter
As a Kite
By Mike Turner Lift me as a kiteInto a cobalt skyThat I may waft with the breezeFloating with spun-sugar cloudsGazing upon the receding Earth belowPassing from a smidge to a blur to a moteClimbing higher and higher‘Til I pass the azure fringe of day to nightBecoming one with the starsDusted diamonds against obsidian heavensShining reflected … Continue reading As a Kite
The Memory of You
By John Thomas He literally bumped into her, his first love, in the public library. In a city of two million. What were the chances? After the obligatory updates about mates, parents, and rambunctious children (he had two, Emma one), she casually asked, “what are you doing now?” “I’m a writer,” he replied. “You wrote good letters,” she … Continue reading The Memory of You
End of Affection
By Kartika Lestari Harry’s heart felt like the earth after being hit by a meteor, shattered into pieces, nothing but a deep, empty hole. He gripped his wife Shanti’s hand, who sat beside him on the couch in their dining room. Since they made their way out of the hospital that afternoon, she had leaned … Continue reading End of Affection
For Therapy, I Mix Metaphors
By D. R. James From a frozen wedge of machine-split pine,tossed on this settling fire, one frayed, martyredfiber curls back and away like a wire, thenflares, a flame racing the length of a fuse.Imagine this an innermost strand, a barely-dirttwo-track off Frost’s road less traveled, a thin, trembling thread of desire, the uncharted blue veinof … Continue reading For Therapy, I Mix Metaphors
A Blue Body in a Black Tab
By Aritra Basak Morning leaks in slowly, like spilled milk across the sky.I open my eyes, though I was never really asleep. My body feels like it has been placed in the wrong century. My hands are not mine; they’re extensions of some old machine that hasn’t been oiled in years.The laptop stares at me … Continue reading A Blue Body in a Black Tab
The White Subaru
By Maya Rawitch Originally published in Love and Loss Epiphanies self published by Cheryl Lunar Wind. She sits in my white Subaru, balls of her feet digging into the mat meant to protect her from the heat. She lets her gaze drift out the window, trying to will the pine tree’s sappy scent to sift … Continue reading The White Subaru
Academy of the Heart And Mind 