Upstairs, in his lofty lair, Pig Boy looks out the window searching for Blue Sky on the wintry Michigan horizon. He squeezes his fingers into fists, willing Blue Sky to appear.
Fiction
Greg Schreur: A Poor Reflection
After his shower the bathroom air is heavy and smells densely of soap. The steam and the moist gulf air have fogged the top half of the mirror and concealed his head behind a dense cloud of condensation, his reflection now a headless, naked, dripping body.
Tamara G. Oakman: Nothing. Everything.
Decaying houses fill Adina’s dark brown pupils, the backbones, or flanks missing. It looks post blitzkrieg—the miscellanies of the former inhabitants discarded—clothes, lost toys, kitchenware, bathtubs still nailed into place, full of grime.
James Mathews: Blondes to the Rescue
We were all ready, hundreds of us, cast into a sea of camouflage that spanned the enormous hangar floor, each clinging to a duffle bag stuffed to bursting with field gear, body armor, gas masks, last wills and testaments. All the things we would need in Afghanistan. The hangar doors were cranked open to reveal […]
Mark Budman: Love and Faith in the Shadow of Lenin
Ye Gods! Annihilate but space and time/ And make two lovers happy. Alexander Pope In the sixth grade, Nikifor Vladimirovich Rosanov sat behind Praskovia Nikitichna Tarasova in every class and pulled her pigtails. She had such luxurious hair—even silkier and thicker than his Siberian cat—and her nails were trimmed unlike the cat’s. Praskovia shrieked and […]
Leslee Rene Wright: Ghosts Across America
1. We’re at Niagara Falls for the second time this year, and this time we opt for the New York side. We lost our lust for crossing into Canada somewhere between Erie and Buffalo, or, more rightly, just after our daughter died, some untold months ago. The little things that had once thrilled us—like exchanging […]