My Daughters Swimming in Rockpools–Orissa, India

by Sarah Das Gupta

They squat on lichen-green rocks,
looking into a shallow pool,
the water contained and warm.
The sand through the watery mirror
still ridged, clinging to the memory
of wild waves and running tides.
Like two sea queens, the children stare
into this miniature world
which for this moment
they think they master and control.  Continue reading

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Plummeting

by Nathan Nicolau

I thought she had wings.

When she jumped, I expected them to jut out of her body in their full glory, like a mother bird about to hug her young. She plummeted ten stories onto the grey concrete instead. Her body flew down rapidly, almost forcefully, and was free-falling for only a few seconds. Had I blinked, I would have missed her flight. The scene looked like a series of projected photos, with the first photo showing her standing on the roof and then disappearing in the second. The third photo would be my blank face watching the scene unfold from a train stop not too far away.  Continue reading

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The Leafcutter (Megachile rotundata)

by Colleen S. Harris

Brightly flowering plants
in easy reach are the most tempting—
the candied pinks and purples
of azaleas, alfalfa, lilac.
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Morning

by Jill Michelle

n. The end of night and dawn of dejection.
—Ambrose Bierce 

This poem is not about a funeral
not about cold crescent rolls  Continue reading

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Cabin Pressure

by Daniel Romo

My wife says,
No one likes to sit in emergency rows because
that’s too much responsibility,
as if the thought of a disaster is enough

xx for a guaranteed
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