by Francine Witte
is watching her mother whose eyes
are windowed with tears. Damn onions,
the mother says, but the daughter knows
better. She knows that the tears are for
the husband/father who left last week,
who took his cufflinks, his clothing, Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
by Scott Bradley Smith
After the rain, the desert smelled of sage and creosote. Mike Brazos pawed the scree, hauled himself onto a ledge. Hands on knees, he gasped and wheezed in the breaking mist. He knew he’d been capricious—a rattler could have gotten him anytime he reached overhead. At the very least, he could have ended up with a handful of cholla spines. But he had arrived at this promontory where, for one last time, he could survey Sabino Canyon as it curved like a fat leg up and into the Santa Catalina range. Continue reading
Filed under Fiction
by Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad
I scan the cartilage, bending tissue blue
through a New England coast, flexib-le
mon-itor of ocean martyrs, snack options; black
tips the prey over, I slip under, basking
in soft spaces of rows and rows of teeth, great,
white razors, all replaceable, like the nurse Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
by Deirdre Roche
Our car was the size of a toaster, bought out of environmental convictions and a lack of funds. The hill to the cabin was steep and muddied from snow that fell the night before.
“We could push,” Paul said.
I put the car in neutral. Together we mounted the first steep climb. We panted and held our knees. Our breath came out in white puffs.
“How are we gonna get back down?”
“I think it will be easier in the other direction,” he said. He might have smiled but his face was covered almost completely by his scarf. Continue reading
Filed under Fiction
by John A. Nieves
Some games we played weren’t
about competition. The goal
was for everyone to win, like when
we’d throw pillows around the room
and name the floor lava. No one
tried to push anyone else in. The idea
was adventure. We would risk
imaginary immolation to reach Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
Hawaii Pacific Review 