By Michal Reiben Clouds drift on a gentle breeze in an Iris blue sky. Tree’s branches sway in the warm light wind and birds in the trees chatter. An old hag wearing a moth-eaten dress with a face like crumpled paper is sitting on a bench by the side of a playground. She’s enjoying the … Continue reading Soap Bubbles
From the Depth of my Grave
By Arti Rai I'm burried under the soil now resting in peace , rains have shed flood of tears , drops seeped onto my breathless body , I thought nature cried . A headstone showing human words would console my lying layers of earth I would heap over my brutal bones getting brawn . In … Continue reading From the Depth of my Grave
The Tunnel
By Nancy Lou Henderson It was time to begin her journey, and Elsa wondered, was she prepared? Once taking the first step on to the pathway, there would be no going back. Elsa took a deep breath, then saw herself at the opening to the tunnel. A path stretched out in front of her, leading … Continue reading The Tunnel
A Happy Death
By Bradford Middleton My life goes by in black and white, The black words I type onto white paper And the sepia tinted black and white Of the old movie days. The films come And go, a new one every few days whilst The words, right now, continue to flow And it all … Continue reading A Happy Death
When the Clock Stops
By Kat Devitt I sat staring at the hands, frozen in their rotation, their ticking not filling the room. I waited another second to see if a spring might force it to leap forward. Just once. Just to prove life still grinded through the cogs in the ormolu clock, tick, tick, ticking away. But nothing … Continue reading When the Clock Stops
Poems by Patricia Nelson
EXPLORER In his chest a red ship skids and thuds. He arrives with a scrape of wood at the new and unintended vision. Error lifts the bright hairs on his skin. His eye veers, here among the green dimensions. His wish for a wick of road. There must be a forward somewhere in the … Continue reading Poems by Patricia Nelson
Honorable Mention Piece from the Short Fiction Contest: Death Comes to Aishbagh by Divyanka Sharma
I was getting ready for work when mom told me of grandma’s death. Ambulances were rushing to Beth Israel Medical Center, urgently piercing the morning air with their siren call for space. Ubers and Lyfts and cabs were angrily honking in the 9am rush hour; East Village in New York was ablaze with indifferent and … Continue reading Honorable Mention Piece from the Short Fiction Contest: Death Comes to Aishbagh by Divyanka Sharma
The Spider in the Closet
By Anthony Palma She didn’t move when I nudged her leg, she spinning, suspended from her own web. There are millions of spiders in the world, and her death was largely unnoticed, but to starve to death alone in a closet. I imagine her building her web and settling into the middle, waiting for … Continue reading The Spider in the Closet
The Lamentation of a Mother
By Indunil Madhusankha (Previously published in the 2016 October issue of the Synesthesia Literary Journal on 8th of July 2016) “Amma, when I come the next time, prepare me some Welithalapa.” Saying thus you left for work But all of a sudden like one of your most remarkable surprises You came … Continue reading The Lamentation of a Mother
Loch Ness (Ian’s Night)
By Tricia Marcella Cimera On the banks of the Loch Ness the murderer Ian sees the Monster watching from the black-water edge. Ian is not fearful — he’s just killed his mistress (cried like a bairn) and blood fills his heart, his face a gray rock, cold as a grave. … Continue reading Loch Ness (Ian’s Night)
Academy of the Heart And Mind 