I am seeking small mercies, this word that pushes the breath out slowly and pulls at the corners of your mouth like stay or sleep. When I imagine my mother through the eyes of the policeman who brought her into the station on a Friday afternoon, I invent small mercies between them. I think of…
Category: Issue 13
Issue 13.4 – Fiction
For more than a year, a ghost lived in our house. Every morning I would see her in our lemon-yellow kitchen — standing at the sink, gazing out the window at the bird feeder, reading the newspaper at the dinette. When she saw me, she would vanish. She stayed until Halloween, until my tiny six-year-old…
Issue 13.4 – Poetry
You never told me to remember, impress upon my mind, my childhood days with you So, I didn’t know I would only retain memory pieces of the life we lived together I never stopped to think you might not be here tomorrow Did it cross your mind you might not watch your daughters grow up?…
Issue 13.3 – Nonfiction
“Are you sure they’re not here in your room?” I called at a mock-whisper. “I’m sure!” Marvin followed me into the room, the door creaking behind him. “It’ll be a big wad. It’s a lot of keys. I looked in every drawer, but maybe your eyes are better.” He stood over me, absentmindedly wringing his…
Issue 13.3 – Fiction
The woman was a mother, daughter, wife, a small-business owner, a fashion designer, a social maven, daughter-in-law, friend, employer, dog mother. She was also a part-time bougainvillea tree which bloomed fuchsia and vermillion and white. ** The only person in the world who knew her secret was the gardener. There was little point in hiding…
Issue 13.3 – Poetry
How I wished to be his cat. I would purr against him, he would pet me He would give me food and water. I would come to him when he was naked on his bed And rub my fur against his belly He would keep me in the house with him He wouldn’t blame me…
Issue 13.2 – Nonfiction
As I stared at the dark gray wall before me, I imagined this home’s listing Realtor standing here with his clients, watching their confused expressions as they considered the riddle I now pondered. He’d know exactly what they were going to say—the same thing everyone who looked at this house must say. “Why did they…
Issue 13.2 – Fiction
Holly was taking her work home with her. She had been for a while. It wasn’t much at first, not as it was now. It came on with a subtlety, gentle as late summer turning to early autumn. Nothing in particular announced it, nothing triggered it as far as she could tell. It was a…
Issue 13.2 – Poetry
Pulling into the driveway, memories make me gasp for air. Can anyone know the love that happened here? The maple tree out front where I discovered how to make noses out of its seedlings, and felt carefree enough to jump in its leaves, stands exquisitely rigid demonstrating its stability. Its branches reaching for the…
Issue 13.1 – Nonfiction
The clouds looked thick like a thousand wet cotton balls glued together in the sky. My brother and I drove five hours through the Tennessee cold to arrive at an open field with a barn-style home in the front. He flicked the last of his cigarette out of the window of our shared Honda Accord…
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