Curves

by Mitzi McMahon

I watch my friend from the doorway and think this was a mistake. I should be at home working on my marriage or at the dry cleaners or at the grocery store, anywhere but here. But Claire called, crying. Said she didn’t want to be alone while her ex-fiancé is tying the knot. I didn’t think it was a good idea for me to come, not now with my own shit so messed up, but I couldn’t say no.

Claire stands in front of the full-length mirror, a shot of whiskey in her hand. I take in the rumpled bed covers, the discarded t-shirts and argyle vests and jeans heaped on a chair, the costume jewelry scattered along the dresser top, and sigh. Continue reading →

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December 29

by Alessandra Simmons

For Don Belton

Sometimes I am mistaken
& I believe the streetlamp

is sunrise. Orange glow breaking
palm fronds. The Midnight Continue reading →

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Finding Your Place

by Katie Darby Mullins

Because you are a stepmother, maybe your laugh is a little louder than the other moms. That’s fine. You laugh even louder when you realize it. Look at how much fun this is, you’re saying. I love being a mom.

But you know you’re not a mom, don’t you? It doesn’t matter how drunk, how high, how fucked up your child’s mother is, you’ll never be her mother. Continue reading →

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Leaving Jerusalem

by Kaitlin Dyer

Why is it, where my house
                should be, there’s Jerusalem
         instead? Where I had IKEA
                                                      plates and purple wine glasses,
there is Jerusalem. Continue reading →

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On the Fourth of July, I Hear the Neighbor’s Music

by Kaitlin Dyer

God, forgive us. We build a fence
in the yard.
                                       We hold our dogs to our own
and scold them when they try to greet. Continue reading →

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