Horses
A collage comic by Verena Spilker Continue Reading
Pigeons
by Kristy Lin Billuni
Image: Flannery Bateman
Ava watched a city bus accelerate toward three clucking pigeons in the middle of the road. Their nonchalant pecking at the asphalt right up to the last nanosecond before total obliteration thrilled her. She gasped, and all three took flight, scattering to the right and left of the massive bus fenders, two landing in the gutter beside her. She rested the side of her face on the hot concrete, and a sharp pebble dug at her cheekbone. Continue Reading
A Kid Going By
by Ambika Thompson
Image: Tanno Pippi
A kid going by on his rollerblades
A. Spits at me. It’s unpleasant. Lands on my left cheek. The kid’s clearly congested. This is how the day starts. Sitting on a park bench pretending I’m doing something. Staring at birds. The budding leaves on trees. Anything to make me think of something else. Anything else. Or nothing at all. Try to achieve nothingness. Breathe in and out quickly. Someone passes me by. Asks if I’m ok. I ask for a tissue. The glob is still on my cheek. Continue Reading
Swaha
by Liz Kay
Image: Lita
I’d had my wish and I’d blown it out all over the cake.
But I still had the blue bucket. By the door next to the coats and shoes. It was bought by the seaside in the days when we used to play.
Last year Kevin rescued it from the garden, emptied it of frogs and filled it with dreams on sorry bits of paper wrapped up tight. Gel penned goals: see the northern lights and learn the ukulele. Write a novel and compile a facebook page of rainbows. I’d done the last one, had 1267 followers and counted 336 likes on my best picture so far. Continue Reading
& when i jump the sky will catch me
by Kathryne David Gargano
Image: E. Spear
the last you’ll speak & the first my ever
after doesn’t look like you no hair no body i
wake myself with walking knife to the edge
& if i jump i didn’t fall / this dress too long Continue Reading
Buffalo Manifesto
by Greg Burkholder
Image: Tom Moore
I remember laying in bed surrounded by buffalo. They licked my face, their tongues like wet sandpaper. The buffalo would impatiently nudge my hand until I flung my blanket off and trampled through my room with them. The carpet swayed like prairie grass and the walls stretched for miles. Time to infinity. I led the stampede through the endless plains of my room, as fleas danced jigs on the buffaloes backs and I laughed at them for being so dirty and they’d retaliate by kicking carpet dust into my eyes. I’d rub it off with the hem of my sleeve but it never all went away.
Continue Reading
What They Know & Interview with the Poet Alan Irid Fendi
by Alan Irid Fendi
Image: Alan Irid Fendi
Interviewed by Jane Flett
There’s a boy set aflame when the sun comes up—that means everyday. I don’t know who he is because he’s probably a refugee. And refugees are everywhere these days—that means everyday. Continue Reading
Keyboard Cat
by Dan Ayres
Image: Ana Thompson
The retirement home for viral animals is a bleak place, as you might expect. We’re a bunch of washed up critters, faded stars with nowhere to go. But don’t render us redundant just yet, good viewer. We may still surprise you, like we did before. Continue Reading
by Jasmina Al-Qaisi
Image: Martin Maier
There is something
about the way
my breath was taken away with you
to the bathroom.
(SFX pee + SFX flush + SFX door x 2) Continue Reading
Elixir, Rush and Blackberry
by Emily Boswell
Image: Isabell Rock
Melinda could already taste the delicious red cherry slushy on her tongue – already feel the cool crushed ice running down her throat. She had been craving it all day. The sun beat down, hot on her face. Literally beating me, she thought. Looking up at the fiery mass, Melinda imagined golden fists coming down and bashing her in the face, burning her cheeks. Her maroon tights stuck to her sweaty thighs, her flowery yellow dress clung to her stomach and chest. The shade of the trees that lined the narrow road offered no comfort. Continue Reading