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  • His Wife’s Ashes

    by David Shumate

    “When the old man famous for radishes showed up at the com­mu­nity gar­den with his wife’s ashes in an urn, we gath­ered round for a short eulogy. He recalled that late night three decades ago when filled with hap­pi­ness she stepped onto the lawn in her bra and panties and sang a lit­tle Verdi...”

  • Suicide

    by David Shumate

    “Each week in the obit­u­ar­ies you read about a few more. Though they don’t men­tion how the woman weary of this world walked into the mor­tu­ary, sat in a wing-backed chair, pulled a revolver from her purse and dis­charged a bul­let into her tem­ple to ease the bur­den on her family...”

  • Vagabond

    by David Shumate

    “I am part of the ancient tra­di­tion of going away. The art of leav­ing every­thing behind. I set fire to my maps years ago when I saw through all their lies. I know north by the smell of buf­falo. And south by its tangerines...”

  • 11:20 AM (Brunch)

    by Gregory Sherl

    I am a strip mall. It’s rain­ing. My strip mall has a court­yard. Come play in my wet court­yard. Hold hands in my wet court­yard. It takes two (baby) in my wet court­yard. I pre­fer pizza in the morning—cold, greasy, coagulated—call me & we’ll get brunch in my wet court­yard. I am a morn­ing that [...]

  • 11:50 PM (Tylenol PM)

    by Gregory Sherl

    I can spell cumu­lonim­bus I can spell mel­liflu­ous & gen­tly crav­ing touch. I can spell did­dle daw­dle & ori­fice & ori­fices is the plural of ori­fice & I have a few. I can spell I won the spelling bee the sixth grade spelling bee at my pri­vate school. I spelled a word I don’t know [...]

  • 1:57 PM (Smoke Break)

    by Gregory Sherl

    After I eat sushi I don’t want to eat sushi any­more. I am bruised on the inside. I have torn every mus­cle that ever existed. I am a clump of Play-Doh. I am an all-beef patty cov­ered in spe­cial sauce. I am drown­ing in spe­cial sauce. I have drowned in spe­cial sauce. I am stuck [...]

  • Heirlooms Without Heirs

    by Jason Joyce

    I. A reel we watched at the pic­ture house, Our bones heavy from the smoke From the day we spent Getting drunk off your par­ents’ money. II. Watching a friend’s band Break-up on stage Ears effer­ves­cent from the feed­back We debated how to make a liv­ing. III. Searching antique stores and thrift shops We found gold [...]

  • Storm Lesson

    by Cassie Premo Steele

    I try to tell you how the shack has blown over in the wind, how I found it when I was wan­der­ing with no lan­guage and how I tried to get in but there was no door, just as there is no door to you now. There are some peo­ple who are no more than an [...]

  • Space Monkey

    by David Brennan

    (Outer space. THE AUTHOR, in space­suit so that no part of body or face is vis­i­ble, hangs sus­pended above the stage. The voice in sur­round sound.) FRANTIC FRANTIC I’M FRANTIC THE BUBBLE HEAD BOBBING IN INHUMAN UNTOUCHABLE DARK MATTER DESERT WHERE SUN FORGOT NIGHT AND STILL AIN’T HOT STARS AND STARS AND BAUBLES AND CORN [...]

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