THE WRONG WAY / JAMES MULHERN

My father picked up Martin and me for a visit once every couple weeks, on a Sunday after church. Martin was at swim practice, so today I would be with him alone. Any hope of my parents getting back together had diminished
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MESSAGE / JOHN THOMAS WETMORE

On the grass under the trees, a mumbling woman scatters seed for pigeons—whole bags of it— which makes them lazy, trusting, unafraid. She sprinkles her feed, not noticing a squirrel’s torn-off tail—mistaking for a root the skeletal pinion rolled in dirt. She
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DIESEL MORNINGS / JOHN ABBOTT

The school bus chugging away Leaves a cloud of exhaust And a back window of kids Sticking out tongues, or, For braver ones, skinny butts Pressed against cold glass. He watches from the corner Smoking a Camel, hacking blood Into a handkerchief,
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DOLLS / ELLIOT RILEY

It really did start off as a school project, but I haven’t been in school for over a decade. I wanted to see how people treat you if they think you’re a mother, a young, single mother. And yes, I wanted to
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ISSUE #5

SHE WHISPERS TO THE VULTURES / COLIN DODD STAINED / KELLY WEBER MISS / KAMAL E. KIMBALL THE PAINTING / ROBERT HALLECK ANNABELLE / R. E HENGSTERMAN A PHOENIX / ALICIA ROBINSON THE DEAD DOG IN THE FIELD / NICOLE MASON

MISS / KAMAL E. KIMBALL

The morning is silver with birdsong. Clapboard chapel sides thunk down in the grass as nude pews shudder. The priest is sick. His coughing will curse both houses. The rings will roll off the knuckles that don’t exist. Crinoline waits, a virgin in the dress shop, untouched
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