by Haran Sivapalan
Image: Haran Sivapalan
“Life will get better”
Lenny the Lemming always hated this phrase. It was a phrase laden with hubris, as if the person who uttered it could confidently predict the trajectory of one’s life. Life could get better, perhaps. But it could also get worse. The trajectory of life was as capricious and unpredictable as that of the best-made North Korean missiles. Continue Reading
by Kaitlin Ruether
Meg Braem is a Canadian playwright hailing from the West Coast who now calls Alberta her home. A champion of her characters and a firm believer in the importance of fore-fronting women’s voices, Meg has been awarded the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama and her play Blood: A Scientific Romance was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama in Canada. She is also a badass beekeeper, parent, and the current Lee Playwright in Residence at the University of Alberta. Continue Reading
by MiKA MiLK
She prayed for some light for the photographs that would become his internet presence.
Her skirt caught burdock as she kneeled down in the deep soaked snow to frame a right angle. The sun came out and smiled down on her. Each burr needle entangled in the fabric felt like the one found in some haystack. How many barns must a man walk down..
To what rarity shall one go—when coming from afar, all this way to see you. Continue Reading
by Rose Cullis
Image: Kate Dembski
It was one of those cases where the neighbourhood recluse had died – and when they cracked open the door of the little row house on Robinson Street where he’d lived, they discovered that he’d been creating magnificent works of art that would likely prove to be of great importance.
by Jennifer Skelton
Image: Mistral Celeste Khan-Becerra
Edie Sedgwick’s ghost is crying alone in a corner and all I can do is offer her cigarettes. They aren’t even my cigarettes, but I offer her a few nonetheless. She blows smoke rings and digs her hand into a candy bowl full of powder. We are still. Continue Reading
by Sophie Blais
Mange ma fille, mange salope !
Le porno c’est comme les films de super-héros, et __
j’ai mis mes tétons dans l’agrafeuse en écoutant
cette pépite, mais puisque tu ne bandes pas
j’me débine. Continue Reading
by Terry Doyle
Image: Mario Campos Castellano
When the fires stopped burning I pretty quickly realized there was no reason for me to stay in Fort Mac. The job was toast, my company truck had burned, and my ex seemed committed to remaining my ex. Her new man owned his own Ram. Owned it. Outright. Continue Reading
by Jane Akweley Odartey
Image: Jane Akweley Odartey
if things happen like thick happenings
can it, adding first the nuts. loads of the nuts.
of course the squirrels are obvious too
obviously fur rabbits to even affect effect Continue Reading
by Isabel Rock
Images: Isabel Rock
When I was young, I always wanted a pet. My parents wouldn’t let me have one so I made a poodle out of broccoli. I called her Tallulah Flooff. She was beautiful and I was so proud of her. I entered her into the local animal vegetable competition which she won. Then I entered her into a poodle competition, which she didn’t win, but she was spotted by a TV talent scout and invited to star in a dog food commercial. The dog food commercial was a big hit. Something about the look in her eyes made you really believe that the dog food was delicious. She landed a part in a movie called ‘What are you looking at?’ playing the poodle of a blind gangster. Tallulah totally outshone the lead part and became a movie star in her own right, starring in ‘What are you looking at now?’ Continue Reading
by Benjamin Niespodziany
Image: Benjamin Niespodziany
The shirtless cucumber slow dances to the
slide guitar, lives in my basement. I sell
scrapped laptops at garage sales and make
a fortune. Continue Reading