Petaki Road was as far from town as a person could get without leaving: six miles of blacktop running parallel to the county line, hemmed in by corn and soy fields to the east and a sheer cliff face to the west. Road crews and snowplows rarely visited. As soon as inmates were released from Wannehsookah Penitentiary they found shelter on Petaki Road, or they … Continue reading Petaki Road
My father was a monster hunter. He believed in chimeras and yetis. When he looked into the ocean, he saw shadows lurking beneath it. Mother Nature didn’t like being bothered by humans, and she always had a full stock of ammunition to keep them out. It was his job to expose her armies so that children wouldn’t be swallowed by serpents. The monster he … Continue reading Deep Dreams
Schmuhl takes her readers on a journey to a place where nothing is fixed and challenges readers to look inward Elizabeth Schmuhl’s debut collection, Premonitions, is a collection of complex yet simple pieces in motion inviting readers on a journey through life. This collection of 59 poems first stands out with how they are organized: none of the poems in Premonitions are titled. Instead, they … Continue reading Review of Premonitions by Elizabeth Schmuhl
Sixteen strange stories explore the human need for connection. The Loneliness Café is a collection of sixteen short stories that sit together within the pages like a family—all of them share some similarities that make the pages flow, but each is clear and distinct from the rest. Throughout the collection, from “Eddie and Larry and Phil,” a story about a man forming a bond between … Continue reading Review of The Loneliness Cafe by Richard Dokey
Late—or early, depending on how you saw it—under the close stars, through the uncut grass, amid the pulse of crickets and drone of frogs, we led our fathers downhill to drown them. Continue reading At Echo Mire
ART: The Oil Paintings of Emilie Mae FICTION: “Strange Beast” by Eric Notaro “A Forensic Reading of Images” by Kelcey Edwards “At Echo Mire” by Aaron Hull “Transubstantiation” by Kathleen McNamara NONFICTION: “Story of the Ghost” by Gray Hilmerson POETRY: Four Poems by Patricia Caspers Two Poems by Sean Thomas Dougherty “wood-voice, I must pass on” by Eleanor Gray “Some Flowers” by … Continue reading Fall 2018
Every time I plant the perennials —
daffodils, tulips, tiger lilies, hollyhocks —
I’m leaving a part of me immortal… Continue reading This Is Why I Plant Perennials
They sit on the curb just past the customs booth: three dudes staring into the distance, faces hangdog, eyes vacant. Dreadlocks flow down their backs and rest limp on the sidewalk beside their bodies, looking like unearthed roots withering for lack of soil. Above them, the flags of two nations whip in a stiff breeze, while twenty yards off loom the struts and cables … Continue reading Story of the Ghost
for nothing here knows me
but
the fog along the ridge of pines
Continue reading wood-voice, I must pass on
He dropped the orange peel as he walked. “Leave no trace,” said Sharon, last in the line. She stopped to squat, trying to pick up the trash. Her knees wavered as she balanced the weight of her backpack. “It’s organic,” said Vince. He shrugged, like what did it matter. His wife Nevada nodded agreement. “It’s not trash,” said Nevada, “because it’s part of the … Continue reading Transubstantiation
When we were fifteen
• We stole peaches from the bodega
• The juice ran down our chins Continue reading Two Poems
To rhyme their orange is impossible… Continue reading Some Flowers
