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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 …”

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.”

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 …”