By Emma Woodford They knew their lives were shattered when he couldn’t find the key. Now she cries at every turn, tears like grains of sadness on her face. We love her house and feel her pain seeing our future in those grains.
Dreams
By Rajnish Mishra My father is a dreamer, has always been. Only now his dreams have enlarged spheres. Even then, back then, he dreamed a lot and talked of his dreams, of a suave move, a shrewd plan, a sure guide, ‘for dummies’ to the treasure at the end of the rainbow. Times … Continue reading Dreams
I Had a Dream
By Rajnish Mishra I had a dream, not a long time ago. It’s not the kind that I have anymore. In that dream I went back in time to a place that’s not there anymore. They were playing cricket there. I was playing my own age. So, I stood and watched them having all the … Continue reading I Had a Dream
Then I Left
By Rajnish Mishra, I come home after years and carry bribes along: bribes for minds to remember, to remind me the forgotten me. I carry chocolates for all. Death is of two kinds: permanent or temporary removal from a world. In my world of past I’m dead. I’m dead, nearly, for many. I’m dead … Continue reading Then I Left
Tricks Language Plays
By Rajnish Mishra My daughter, eight, looked at me with eyes: half-enquiring, half-afraid, eyes with faith, half, at least, and asked suddenly: Are we born again after death? I looked at my wife. Our eyes met. She smiled: that corners of the eyes, so-it-did-happen smile, and I knew it was not she who dropped a … Continue reading Tricks Language Plays
Post-Work Remains Left
I forgot the applewood bacon in the work fridge. My mother sleeps on the couch as infomercials promising or your money-back guarantee sins blast like music during a tumbling event. There isn't a single Z for shut-eye for me to borrow this evening, I sweated them out in eight-and-a-half hour aisle increments, but I'll get 'em back … Continue reading Post-Work Remains Left
Kissing Butterfly
By Maria Lagdameo I am here breathing still, pinning; Reminisce of a must have been. I saw you often only in my dreams, Your supple lips kissing me; ...whispering elegy We had a love, that we never get to say; Afraid, held back, forbidden in this world, Where hearts were used to barter for gains, With … Continue reading Kissing Butterfly
Everything You Left Behind (Reprise)
By Alyssa Trivett A compression sock. Wooden baseball bat. Power drills aligning the wall, armed to the teeth with battery packs. Rusted out workbench. Operational electric model train town, circa ’97. Miscellaneous slippers, plastic laboratory glasses, beakers, and pipettes. Old business cards from your consulting business. Referee whistles. Identification badges for the park district. A keychain … Continue reading Everything You Left Behind (Reprise)
IF
By Rajnish Mishra Work is worship. It earns returns. Wives with a poet husband want his work bring returns. Time invested in poetic affairs does not reflect upon account. Life’s short, wants unlimited, each second must count. “Don’t build your Nobel in the air”, she says, motherly, practical and fair. Pardons poor husband’s … Continue reading IF
Silver Lake, Ocracoke
By Ann Christine Tabaka Long fingers of night reach out for evening, embracing her with soft velvet arms. Quietude is her name, she lives for this moment. Diamonds dance across the surface of the water. Rhythmic waves lap at a gray pebbly beach, as the last rays of sun are swallowed by the horizon. Anchored … Continue reading Silver Lake, Ocracoke
Academy of the Heart And Mind 