Variations on Summer

by Melissent Zumwalt

The prompt from writing class last week was, “Summertime—wishful thinking—the summers of youth and their unparalleled magic:” an exercise intended to be fun, upbeat. Good Lord! I’d thought, was I the only one without a fondness for their childhood summers? Certainly, summer couldn’t mean the same thing for all of us? Because the first image that came to me, strong and resonant, was a can of Campbell’s Chunky Soup, Sirloin Burger. The memory loomed so large, took up so much emotional space, there wasn’t any way to stop the mental film reel from re-playing: Continue reading

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Dahlias

by Donna Pucciani

Your favorite flower,
though I never knew why,
and you never could explain.
Their bright faces reflect the sun,
aflame in yellows and reds. They turn
from shadows, disrespect the dark.
They choose petaled light, fanning out
from a core of ochre, find the pink Continue reading

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Kikiriki Live Poultry, Inc.

by Katrina Dahl Vogl

Cleo has let the Hiss get too loud again. It’s been two days now since she’s had any money, since she got high, and the Hiss is hissing. Saying, it’s time. So an hour ago she caved and called Louie King, and now he’s sprawled out on her bed with his boots still on, whining that Miro said he’d be home soon, right? Cleo doesn’t answer him. He knows just as well as she does that when a dope dealer says fifteen minutes they mean an hour, and when they say ‘soon’ they mean, this’ll take however long it takes. Continue reading

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Your Brother

by Michael Hettich

is standing in a rowboat, way out. The still air
is scribbled with gnats, which swarm inside your shirt
as he stands and calls out to you. But he’s too far out to hear Continue reading

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Tavoos

by Jon Doughboy

In the foyer there’s a majolica peacock the size of a punch bowl shimmering inertly and full, stuffed to its decorative brim with nail clippings and you say, as you open its back to show me, “They’re my father’s, he keeps them, I don’t know why, don’t ask me why, he’s disgusting, isn’t he disgusting?” and I don’t have time to respond because this is the first time I’m meeting your parents and your mom is in my face suddenly, Continue reading

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