The babysitter was unalarmed at the impulse to somehow bite off the baby’s head. His mouth was too small, and sometimes he wanted to do this to puppies and seals, so the sensation was familiar. Also, one morning, a while back, a girl the babysitter knew for a short time had said she wanted to […]
Contributors 74
Ryan Effgen: The Pirate’s Life for Me
“This one’s good,” the girl slurs at me. I try to look interested, which is somehow easier with the eye-patch on. “What kind of socks does a pirate wear?” “Hmm. I give up,” I say. I’m in no mood. It’s dark and noisy and I’m trying to remember a time when I didn’t feel so […]
Eugenia Chao: A Bowl of the Real Thing
Wan, bowl; Jen, real; her name was, literally, a bowl of the real thing. From the first day of junior high school she sat in the last row. A hundred and sixty five centimeters; tall enough to be a model in Taiwan; at thirteen she was the size of an adult, the rest of the […]
Matvei Yankelevich: Monsters And Negroes
And if no one is kind to you, should you then be portable and pleasant, ask no questions as to why they take as a given that your smile not hide a dagger or a connivance; should it come to them as a surprise that you harbor ill-will or deceit or ruthless dreams of revenge? […]
Dara Wier: Seventh Wind
During the sixth your resolve seemed less sure of itself and You divided and succumbed with mathematical abandon. From the fifth we surrounded you with our hands extended And opened and though we dared not touch you, it drew you Away from the fourth which had so little stir to it, too little To make […]
Dara Wier: A Lapidary Rendezvous in a Mind’s Smoother Regions
Fine static barely buzzes in brushed down silence, a bristling Silence with an air of expectation. We’re expecting you for a Visit. We’re anticipating your arrival. We’ve done all we can to Fathom you weightless. In countless ways have we ushered, Have we swept and we have removed all barbs and hooks, splinters And sharp […]