Issue: 2025

A poem tells the heart: it must be true— unless perception is a lie and all considered feeling false; unless we err by saying, steal the essence of the said or bury it among the speechless dead. If by my lines I mean to raise, to stir awake, to show, i … Continue Reading

The morning sulks with impending rain, held off for a moment when the sun bursts through— star-shell of anxious illumination. Here is that line of French infantry, their bayonets the bristles of unshaved chins, their eyes drawn, but of course, to your … Continue Reading

My dad and stepmom run a motel in upstate New York. It is not for the upper crust. It is more for the pizza crust. In the summer my dad would host a cookout and invite everyone. One of the guys that Dad was friends with took me with him to the Price Ch … Continue Reading

The presence of their square bodies large and uncommon in our small rooms half brothers same shoulders, jaw, hips, same lack of height forty years from boyhood 400 miles apart visiting back passing through our home for an hour pawing through the sepia … Continue Reading

Emily – now I get it – no psychology here no diagnosis – no problem of the mind. It’s eggs and flour the call to rise – the call to write before the hemlock’s longest shade. We close the gate – latch the door plan a meal for two alone – melt the chocol … Continue Reading

An owl in the night down the road in dark moonless night in a snag perhaps with knotholes and rough bark out there in the dark like here in a bed pushing back dread for a sound like hope but the old apple tree that once held a swing nearby hollowed out … Continue Reading

“The world is better now that you are here.” That was what the sign above the entrance read. It was wooden; the letters were black. I remember analyzing it as I shuffled off the bus, my mind going through the motions of acceptance, making sure to harde … Continue Reading

I have missed a lot of boats. Most of them I saw clearly only when I looked behind me. Boats I coulda, shoulda, woulda boarded and sailed away to some place happier than here. But I have only this boat. This houseboat, this beat up leaky canoe, this so … Continue Reading