Issue 1.2, Spring 2016
Featured Content
Short Fiction: “We Belong to the Sky” by Ser Anderson
Anil knew the moment she first set eyes on
them. Mid-summer and the air smelled like tomato vines. She was crouched next to her
mother, a smaller copy of the short, dark haired woman, toes wiggling into the dark
earth, arms wrapped around her knees, paying more attention to the orange cat on the
garden wall than to her mother’s explanation of how to thin carrots.
The dark shadow that swooped over them drew her eyes upwards.
“Look, Ma,” she pointed. Together they watched the two men on their huge white swan wings circle lower and lower until they disappeared behind the neighbor’s house.
That was supposed to be her. Full Story
Flash: “Plucking Petals” by A. Riding
My whole life, every flower I saw was
Icarus …
And to me, everything and everyone was a flower … really, a flower, a
precious flower. I did everything I could. I warned them of the sun. I warned you. I
nagged at you until you drooped. I tried to place myself as a shield between you and the
sun. I tried to be your visor. But you can’t help everyone at once. You
can’t make everyone stay still. Stay still. Behind me, you floated up … up …
up.
Full Piece
Poetry: “My Father Was A Beekeeper” by James Croal Jackson
I always knew my father was allergic to bees
but it wasn’t until his obituary
I learned he was once a beekeeper.
In those days, I hear, he prayed
to his veil– only to re-emerge, hours later,
having danced with God
under every umber swarm.
He was a gifted storyteller
but it wasn’t until his stroke
at seventy-four made me listen,
when his mouth betrayed his brain.
Full Poem
Debut: “The Red Winged Bird” by Paris Norris
There was this bird with red wings
and a charcoal belly that left traces of ash in its path
It reeked of misery with its violently arrogant flight
I, incapable, no taller than fears height
There was this ocean-eyed bird
and it laid small with its charismatic wing span
lily padded breaths lost in the valley…
Full Poem
Fine Art: Madison Creech
Featured mixed media by Madison Creech
