fall 2015
Table of Contents
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Word on the Street
Henry Rappaport
Saturday Night
Charles Springer
The Insidious Susurration
A Conversation
Marie-Andree Auclair
Can't Stomach Mitchell Grabois
Alcohol
Fast-slow Continuum
Peycho Kanev
The Stale Cold Smell of Morning
Angela Rebrec
Why, And for What Purpose
Is There Something
Ace Bogess
Brains Lost to the Earth Melissa Nelson
Fault Vodka / Blame Juice Jamie Sharpe
QED A Moth In Rain Christopher Patton
In the Cyberspace Icicle Changming Yuan
The Story of Chitin Giri Zoe Dagneault
Yellow Flowers
The World Dream
Ann Filemyr
The Day Everyone Realized Ron Riekki
what do you talk about
desire derives pleasure
aren't we missing every thing
gary lundy
A Fire Hydrant on Camino de la Amapola
Good to See You
Eleanor Kedney
(Ouverture) Garry Thomas Morse
revenge/reincarnation annie ross
Girl I
Girl II
Carolyn Supinka
the neighbors knew i divined water
Hell is hot
Allison DeLauer
a rose is a rose is a rose manhattan Nikki Reimer
Darkening Over Still Water Richard King Perkins II
A Monday The Devil Valentina Cano


The Insidious Susurration of Mongrels
Before I refined fear’s fetters
into protective hands
and memory tightened my leash
there was the hell breath
of mongrels dogging me
fangs, nails in my ankles
to the edge of the cliff
—do not soar—
to the borderline
—do not cross—
—stay put, look no farther—
the shouts, the whispers.
Beware, you don’t know
what comes next.
Our warnings—
You’ll get hurt, maimed, shamed.
Stay safe.
What if you fail, what if
and then what?
And we stick to you
since you feed us.
Hesitation is our nectar
and shivers of recoil our lifeblood.
That sense of futility?
Our daily meat.
We barked doubts
at you
till you
tighten your own tethers
because
there is always the chance
you’ll abandon us
to our sooty smoke
and taste a bright sky.