THE WAY SHE PLAYS by Allison Serraes Ramona plays her ukulele in an antique electric chair: Nylon vibrates under cool hands like lightning strumming keys on kites like finger-picking sonofusion like palms on plasma lamps— like electric. Ukulele, ukulele, thick and cottony in the throat like yucca. Booming into the soundbox of the sky. Ukulele, … [Read more…]
RANGE PRACTICE by Bill Glose I practiced what to say while you stomped about the kitchen, slamming dishes and cabinets. Just like range practice, I focused on the target, took air slow as a turtle, emptied my heart. Practice doesn’t always make perfect. Punching holes downrange easy when the torso bisected by your front sight … [Read more…]
R.H.I.P. by Bill Glose Ask any private pouring diesel into a barrel of human waste, lighting it afire, mixing with a wooden paddle, standing in the black smoke, he’ll tell you: Shit flows downhill. All one-stripes on latrine duty know the motto: Rank has its privileges. Nothing to do but bitch to pals who are … [Read more…]
JEWEL TONES By Tara Deal Time to sift through their things, collecting nuggets to be traded in or hoarded, depending on how expensive gold is when we’re finished and do you remember the cocktail rings we used to covet, such small rubies and diamond chips of our grandmothers who never had nothing, that’s what they … [Read more…]
THE CAPTIVES By Shivani Mehta In 1438 the dying were buried before they were dead, thirty seconds before their eyes closed. To look at the faces of the dead was thought to bring a lifetime of bad luck. The family of the soon-to-be deceased stood by the freshly dug grave, waited to catch their loved one’s … [Read more…]