Poetry
The Frida Train (a golden shovel)
by Russell Nichols in Issue Thirteen, January 2024
“Pies, para qué los quiero si tengo alas para volar?”*
― Frida Kahlo (1907–1954)
The blueprint was hidden under Frida Kahlo's bed, where she rested her feet,
after the accident. Engineers puzzled over the design, knowing not what
it was for, but built her hand-drawn estaciones to learn what they cou...
Tell Me the Story of Something Ending
by Matthew Roy in Issue Thirteen, January 2024
Tell me the story of something ending, she said at the campfire,
The story of something that tastes like vinegar
And crunches like beetle shells between my teeth.
He drew in a breath and thought of trivia nights and dead-eyed Zoom call stares
And certifications and diplomas that meant nothing—
Just ...
Star Stitcher
by A.J. Van Belle in Issue Thirteen, January 2024
I sew behind time
and feel too much
in the dusty yard of the seamstresses’ house.
Space fighters scream across the dark dome of sky overhead.
The army needs tunics, so
I wield my tiny sword.
Blue and green lights flicker overhead, bright enough for me to see my work.
I sense every thread.
Ol...
hu li jing 狐狸精
by Wen Yu Yang in Issue Twelve, December 2023
they’d tell me
how much a fox’s honour is worth
without weighing it so why not
steal a boy’s honour
braid it in as
another triumph
bask in this
demonic glory
my mother
muzzle crimsoned in rooster
her grin always saying
you never know
this might be The One
who’ll make a scarf out of you ...
What You Find at the Center
by Elizabeth R McClellan in Issue Twelve, December 2023
after @notaleptic
six feet down and you sat
in the garden filling your notebooks
with scrawled labyrinths; circus tents
overlapping the paths and midways.
ten feet down and you cried
over some girl who liked math and uppers
better than cartography or tracing
the lines she drew between you o...
The Princess and the Frog
by Archita Mittra in Issue Twelve, December 2023
is this how all things end?
with a croak, a hiss, broken glass—
some spilled wine, a sliver of blood
and slime, trailing ever after.
tell me something else, then.
where the frog never becomes a prince.
that way she never marries a man
whose kisses are a mossy damp,
in whose breath she can...
The Dome
by Elis Montgomery in Issue Twelve, December 2023
Molten air stifles, sea-thick
and as sickening. Pocked stones
become bowls I water with
weighted limbs. Drained pith, dry bones
in this park. All beyond thirst.
You could drink first but your eyes
are unseeing like they’re dried
open. One more fried sunrise
(what rainforest?) then drowning...
Continue →Teen in Recovery from Dystopian Books that Were Portals
by G.E. Woods in Issue Twelve, December 2023
Teach yourself joy,
the therapist sings to you, white strands splitting her black hair.
One paper heavier, you leave her office,
contemplating the self-care list she gifted you. Cursed you with.
‘Eat flowers. Be music. Make friends with beating hearts.
Feel yourself m
o
v
e
with patience.’ ... Continue →
Ourasphaira giraldae Awakens
by H.V. Patterson in Issue Twelve, December 2023
Gods writ microscopic,
we are the children of extremes
chitin-clothed, long-dead spores enduring still,
ghosts of ghosts
a billion years dead
For millennia,
we collected your buried tribute
flesh, blood, bones
plastics, garbage, toxic sludge
every sacrifice you unknowingly gave
Now, we eme...
Continue →Made of Glass
by Anna Madden in Issue Twelve, December 2023
the air smells of brine and night spirits
of bare feet sinking into the orchard’s dark earth
where pink ladies dream standing upright
their old branches like my withered arms
and the sea of green I can’t see in the failing light
dark waves of bluegrass and mason jars filled with fireflies
this ...
Continue →