by Joseph Stanton
Higher rhythms are for them an easy joy.
Because they are so wide of wing
(a seven pound bird has a seven foot wingspan)
they glide, lovely at top of sky
or just above the waves,
seeking squid for eating. Continue reading
Albatross
Filed under Poetry
The Ugly Woman
by Leah Jane Esau
They said there were faces so ugly that “only a mother could love.” But there were faces even uglier than that apparently. For when the nurse put the baby in Bria’s arms, she frowned.
“This isn’t my baby.”
“It is,” the nurse said.
“This can’t be my baby. Where is my baby?”
Bria’s husband, Michael, pulled the doctor aside. Continue reading
Filed under Fiction
Names of the Chumash
by Paul Willis
Just when you think the Indians
of the central coast of California
have disappeared out to sea,
their names keep washing up
on the beaches, dunes, and promontories:
Pismo, Nipomo, Jalama.
Hueneme, Mugu, Malibu.
The peaks stand up and word themselves: Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
Purge
by Daniel Garcia
It is 10:00. You are in Dr. Caneen’s English 2500 class and it is, thus far, your least favorite class of your major. You will never understand why you were required to take this course, instead of the intro to your concentration, which is Creative Writing, not Literary fucking Analysis. Regardless, she is lecturing today, but only part of you is listening, because you have a chicken biscuit in front of you, you have dipped it in barbecue sauce and, Christ, does it look divine. Continue reading
Filed under Nonfiction
Negotiation
by John F. Buckley
I’ll keep the belly fat making me pant as I tie
my shoes. You can have taking the elevator.
I’ll keep the failure to floss. You can have opening
beer bottles with your teeth. I wish my canines
were still pointy. I’ll keep abdominal rumbles,
gut bloat, gassiness. I was a colicky baby, still might be. Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
Hawaii Pacific Review 