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Understand | by Michael Chin
“Mona introduced Eleanor as her girlfriend, making no apologies or deflections about it, which felt good.”
Aromantic Jesus | by Ellen Huang
“oh to stop the rivers of time, the drink from emptying / to command stillness from the tempest …”
Side Effects | by Kourtney Jai
“Hey folks: Quick question—I may have been talking to one of the other Moreeva trial participants… I don’t know anything other than her name and that she lives in Seattle, but…”
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The Art of Eating a Malteser | by Rhiannon Willson
“I like the way he rests his hand / on the back of my neck …”
Heartbreak Aubade | by Veronica Beatrice Walton
“There / is a kindness in emptiness, an admission. You can / do anything with heartbreak …”
The Alchemy of Starlight | by Erin Schallmoser
“The first thing my parents did when they got into town was stop at a metaphysical shop and get their auras photographed.”
Memento Mori | by Lacey Johnson
“All funerals are too long. The autumn leaves were hot and light and sun in Coach’s backyard.”
the bones | by Joey Gould
“She could break bones, in case / of emergency …”
Our circus tents pitched & Let’s Go to Italy, You said | by Lynn Finger
“Sun overhead like beaten leather, we see the ground soar / fast away from us, down & down …”
Next Week | by Shane Wilson
“On that first day, she sat on the bench across from me reading a book while she was waiting for the bus.”
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After | by Jesse Millner
“He really wanted to make something / beautiful …”
Religious Valentine Conversation Heart Scented Erasers – $3.47 | by Megan McDermott
“What more / must I give?”
We’re texting back and forth, the mystery locket between us | by Kate LaDew
“She says she’s loved two Bills in her life.”
My Soul Mate | by Jamie Fredericks
“I answer as often as I can, which is not / often enough.”
“WHOA, BIG GULPS, HUH? ALRIGHT! WELP, SEE YA LATER” | by Eddie Krzeminski
“It’s not smart comedy, I admit this, / it’s the worst kind of slapstick …”
Is There A Polite Way to Ask for a Second (or Third) Helping of Dessert? | by Rachel A.G. Gilman
“Imagine us then in London, the decade before we were born, so I can afford a flat off Portobello Road on an artist’s salary…”
closing distance & perennial | by Sarah Fannon
“you reach for me in half-sleep …”
Two Women of a Certain Age | by Lisa Fabish
“Liquid skin cascading like a mountain stream, swirling and rising in your cupped hand…”
Anywhere but here (with him) | by Rebecca Dempsey
“you have just finished a very late lunch, al fresco, at a little bistro on a near deserted cobbled lane in Rome …”
Seasoning | by Beeper Peddle
“My lover reaches over …”
Self-portrait as Vampire | by Rachel Pittman
“use your delicate tongue to test / the sharpness of my canines …”
b l o w | by Palaces P.
“… the confidence to touch you …”
Granted | by Marcela Sulak
“You, said the wife to the husband, are taking me for granted.”
