by Alice Cross
Ethan escapes as soon as Russell erupts. He remembers to grab his jacket, so he should be okay later when the temperature drops.
He knows what he would see if he dared to look back: their parents frozen in fear and shame. This bullying boy is their son, the product of their union. They await what they see as their due, their punishment for somehow failing him. Soda has been thrown in their faces. They will be grateful it was not the can. Continue reading
Filed under Fiction
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
Filed under Poetry
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
Filed under Fiction
by Colleen S. Harris
Brightly flowering plants
in easy reach are the most tempting—
the candied pinks and purples
of azaleas, alfalfa, lilac.
Continue reading
Filed under Poetry
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
Filed under Poetry
Hawaii Pacific Review 