

as i ride around city park
Moira Wood
A bike ride through New Orleans’ City Park inspires a reflection on the present, and on the past.


The Covid Perception Disparity
Dianne Cabelus Braley
In the middle of a pandemic, a registered nurse and her husband confront the rough terrain between social distancing and social mores.

Intermission
We’re off until September 21, though we’re still accepting and reading new submissions!


Essential, They Call Me
Roxie Williams
We show up.
We don’t complain.
We do all we can to avoid death by plague.

letters to my first love, pt. i
Ashley Ward
“the apprehension that haunts me
is found in you becoming privy
to the recesses of my heart.”



Yet They Call Us Brothers
Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo
“They set us on fire, and yet they call us brothers.”

It took a whole-ass pandemic for me to face my PTSD
Genevieve Murdick
“This hot-sounding social worker does breathing exercises with me over the phone. Secretly, I count this as ‘a date.’ I am exactly that lonely.”

It Eventually Flew Away
Richard LeDue
“A bird flew into my living room window.
Too small to break the glass,
it had no choice
but to land after the crash,
quivering,
waiting to die”


Self-Affirmation
Taylor Dann
“I know what it's like to spend time alone. I never knew how to spend alone time.”

Things Without You
Koss
“I spent two days alone with no phone
haunting your apartment after you died.”


A poor man’s ode to imagination
Fizza Abbas
“Yeast of misery, flour of abuse:
a loaf of bread, too, can amuse.”

Ivory Schemes
Yasmilka Clase
“Grey wolves prowl on West 145th Street
they hunger for the fragmented Janine”


Atonement in an Alleyway
Ryan Mayer
Between a bar and a church, a stray cat offers absolution.