by Matthew Bruce
We lie with compost squeezed
between our fingers. Honey-
dew, cantaloupe rinds make
small tombstones. Black-
banana mash leaks boozy
gas into the rosemary. Continue reading
Author Archives: hipacificreview
The Plot
Filed under Poetry
England, 1580
by Kathryn Haueisen
(from Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures)
William rode on alone for another half hour until he spotted a house at the edge of a forest. Smoke rising from the stone chimney gave him hope this might be where he and Good Fortune could rest for the night. A dog barking announced his approach. William stayed mounted as the barking spaniel ran circles around them. Good Fortune moved back and forth and side to side to dodge the dog. Mercifully, the horse didn’t rear up. Continue reading
Filed under Fiction
Charts
by Alex Thomas
Run the numbers again and hope
that you come up with something
more sure of your survival. Run
the numbers again and hope for
a new figure on the other side
of the equals sign. The New
Yorkers tell me that they gauge Continue reading
Paperwhites
by Dia Roth
My mother leaves behind paperwhites, gifts
for my dog in her handwriting,
books of poetry, no note. I mine them
for semi-precious stones,
admissions of remorse, scabs picked
off and left behind, but come up Continue reading
Fragments of Memory
by Satish Prabasi
(from Fragments of Memory: A Nepali National’s Reminiscences)
We Nepalese have always been proud of our independence. The mountain people from the north descended to the malaria-infested southern lowlands in search of timber, oilseeds, and legumes, and they gradually colonized the strip of land called the Terai. Baba was one of the people who came down from the western hill village of Jhiltung, and over the years he acquired a hundred acres of land near the border with India. He called this piece of land “the abode of Govinda,” or Govindpur, named after Vishnu, the Hindu god of prosperity. Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
