By Hope Fa-Kaji Little Ferns There are little ferns of frozen condensation In the bottom of the oval frame Between us and the sky And there is a smoky haze Over the blackened tips of the mountains That ring the city In the distance, I had forgotten that The Outside is attacking After years of … Continue reading Little Ferns and Litote
The Hadley House
By C.J. Spulak The brown, bare trees swayed slowly in the October wind. In the waning afternoon sunlight, Jessa Fromm squinted through the spots of caked dust and bug guts on the dirty window and gazed out on a yard full of dying weeds and yellowing grass. She sprayed some Windex on the dirty glass … Continue reading The Hadley House
End of the Line
By Mario Marcinko Originally published in CafeLit Magazine Following yet another failed night of forced unrest, I leave the comforts of my sheets, ready or not to face the day. The greyness of life begins its attack on my sensations before I open the window upon skies curtained with leaden clouds and streaked streams of … Continue reading End of the Line
A Memory
By NIGHTMAN I recall my early day In this moments so close To the upcoming era Of haunting creatures at bay. It was scent of a girl That trembled my daydream souvenir of the past— And I thought tales are true And young ones innocent flesh and smell be it in memory be it in … Continue reading A Memory
New Tools
By Violet SH In the dead of night, in a damp, ice-cold meat packing factory far removed from society, hung hundreds of dead, soulless bodies of all backgrounds and genders. A young woman named Alice wore black jeans and a white tank top with no shoes. She hung like everyone else in the factory: by … Continue reading New Tools
Mount Shasta
By Fred Klein Edgar raised his goggles and looked over the valley, and it appeared the wind was taking his new sausage-shaped balloon to the east nearer to the mountains. He was at the helm of his open gondola. “Hans, open the hydrogen gas valve and lower us down slowly to 200 feet according to … Continue reading Mount Shasta
An Odyssey and Other Poems
By Paulette Calasibetta An Odyssey on a cold and blustery autumn day the sky is painted a steely gray, flocks of migrant birds take flight, a chartered course far from sight. lines of towering leafless trees bow and bend, submitting to the chilly breeze. Mosaics of Autumn Apple pickers gaily riding in wagons, sipping cider … Continue reading An Odyssey and Other Poems
Fighting
By Nino Zakaidze Nino Zakaidze is a 24 years old Georgian amateur artist. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Architecture and Interior Design in 2022 and is now going to study web technologies at one of the state colleges in Tbilisi. She has never worked because his whole life has … Continue reading Fighting
Turns out I wasn’t really depressed, I was just lonely and bored
By Grace Sinkins I went off my meds that should’ve never been prescribed to me, Just a few weeks after I saw my dead grandpa in the gas station parking lot. Now I have clarity and I know what he thinks of me, But I can’t for the life of me remember any of my … Continue reading Turns out I wasn’t really depressed, I was just lonely and bored
Three Wishes
By Carolyn Mamchur Walking alone on a craggy beach, my bare foot catches on something metal. A drop of blood on gray sand. When I rub my aching fingers against the object, vessel shaped, I feel barnacles of grime covering ancient letters etched in copper. I yearn to read what is written, but I cannot. … Continue reading Three Wishes
Academy of the Heart And Mind 