Hidden Inside Bob Rehm __________ The bullets were bright and shiny in my 8-year-old hand. And they were heavy, all boxed up in neat rows. I show them with pride to my new friend from down the block. Bullets meant my Dad has a gun. And guns were cool. My…
Read MoreThe Feast Joani Reese __________ Our train rolls south from Bridgeport past the blue noses in Fairfield and Westport — the mistake that is Stamford. Peeping into Greenwich, Manhattan’s ermine-lined bedroom, we ride the express train into Grand Central for the Feast of San Gennaro. Shawl-clad grandmothers waddle down Spring…
Read MorePremeditation Niles Reddick __________ We became friends on the yearbook staff in junior high school. In the darkroom, we hid a pack of cigarettes and a pint of vodka by removing a ceiling tile. We smoked and mixed vodka in Sprite while we developed pictures of students and teachers in…
Read Moreuntitled playlist Meghan Haydon __________ Dead Man’s Party – Oingo BoingoMy hair was bleached white from the sunthen, chubby cherub cheeks speckled withfreckles. “Angel kisses,” my mom used tocall them, pressing her lips to my forehead. Iliked to press those cheeks against thescalding concrete back then, watch the antsmarch one-by-one…
Read MoreVincent Rendoni __________ Horse Facts My mother couldn’t afford rent,but she could afford horses.We gave her a check for groceries.It went to hay & stable.It’s not that horses are expensive, she said.It’s all the feeding & caring that adds up. Like kids. Whenever we would meet for breakfast,she would tell…
Read MoreTruckstop JoLee Passerini __________ He’s gone. Taillights blurfast away in the hard rain.No stars. Working here she’s backlit, lit up,bright as the big sign they raisedwith a crane. She shines like wet countertops,rings the register open,changes her dollar, plays 24B,her mother’s favorite song—. She’sscattered, smothered, topped, diced. Smile nice. (Next…
Read MoreI yelled at God that I wanted to die Madison Nanney __________ and then I passed a dead deeron the side of the road. I sawno horns, no spiky bits. She.Her belly as bloated as mine.No bounce in the muscle. Hermouth frozen open on a breathshe won’t take again. A…
Read MoreWilliam Hicks __________ Not Old Yet but I look at the barista’s skincovered shoulder to fingertipin intricate figures of bones, decay, drooping rosesand I wonder what tattoo I would have gotten at her ageand what five years after thatand what six months laterand what when I got married/engaged/hired/fired/drunkand if I…
Read MoreNative Lands Benjamin Goluboff __________ There’s a place where the north branch of the Chicago Riverbends around a little island and turns hard south. There’s condos on the west side and Forest Preserve to the east.The woods in between, the riverbanks and the little island are all blanketed with the…
Read MoreDisappointment, Blue, 1982 CJ Giroux __________ Blue is the color of your best friend’s Honors Chemistry textbook when you got placed in what everyone knew was Biology for Dummies. In the dissection unit on a late spring Friday, it’s the fetal veins wandering like the Big Two-Hearted; you weren’t invited…
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