Kate Healey – Gendered Death
Gendered Death There is a tremendous amount of ‘seeing -to’ that our male counterparts never experience. The terrifying and sacred moments of intimacy that daughters endure and subsequently cherish; the anointment into womanhood with the blood of our predecessors. My cousin, James, was steadfast and sensitive, concerned and sweet, always. “It is hard to see […]
Howard Waldman – Papy on the River
Papy on the River “It’s summer again, Papy,” we yelled in his ear. “Where to this time?” Every June 21, his birthday, it was the same thing. Most of the time we didn’t get through or when we did we couldn’t understand him and we’d wheel him around the park, telling him what the flowers […]
Raven Heroux – Training Wheels
Training Wheels The first time you get on a bike is an exhilarating and debilitating experience, and in this regard so is your first real relationship—which does not include sitting next to your crush at lunch in the 6th grade and sharing a bag of Vinegar Lays, which you abhor. It’s the obnoxious giggly conversations […]
Julie Shavin – At Times Upon a Time
At Times Upon a Time I reply it was a storybook childhood no not as in Princess Bride just money enough for food piano lessons a dog new clothes a yearly vacation that kind of thing and naturally there were the few times in the middle of dinner my mother drew a knife from the […]
Matthew Dexter – First Gulf War
First Gulf War We were huffing rubber cement behind the hunchback of the art teacher when the principal opened the door and told me that Dad was dead. She whispered something into the purple ear of the teacher and ushered me away from my table. A few minutes of commiseration beside the kiln, the smell […]
Howard Waldman – Plant No Trees in the Garden
Plant No Trees in the Garden One November day, just after he’d bedded Emily, his wife timidly suggested planting a walnut tree. He was the one who planted, tended and knew. He consulted his specialized books and explained, in simplified terms, the factors that ruled out the operation: inappropriate soil, early frosts, the voracity of […]
Kate Healey – 10/11
10/11 “My father was born on this day, Though I know not the year, I have never committed my name to a birthday card for my father, Nor did he elect to commit his name to me. I have compiled a concise collection of facts: As modest as a grocery list, As neutral as bread […]
John Grey – Small Miracles
Small Miracles I was there, a witness, saw the long-haired holy man perform miracles in between ranting and raving. Who cares if he smells like sheep, when one wave of a scarred hand can bring a bus after I’ve been waiting half an hour. Or a half-hissed prayer through rotting teeth can provide a beautiful […]
Cara Schiff – The Ballad of Stephanie’s Tumor
The Ballad of Stephanie’s Tumor Before she wants to leave, life goes. She dies a shrinking death. Alone, asleep, no one comes close. A tube gives her last breath. One more walk, more vitamins, more pain and she’d be here still– alive. But every healthy act in vain. Her wish: do not revive. A quiet […]
Julie Shavin – Against the Air
Against the Air Consider the embryo. —no limbs at first, oval, translucent, watery comma —not a sapling stick, more, its rain-soaked seed. You said they were all boys, —-those minuscule dead possibilities swirling in a dark dysfunctional womb. —They had to be, as females are stronger. Not quite convinced, —-I dreamed pink party dresses, tutus, […]
