Look at how one pile of clothes leads into another. Trace the layout of clothing as an archeologist traces ruins of by-gone cities. What is the story built into the layers of fabric, piece on top of piece, laid down as if a carefully executed act of urban planning, a city of fabric leading towards […]
Contributors 73
Lori White: Use Your Words
Act natural when your aunt asks you if you’re dating anyone. Smile and nod, side to side and up and down. Avoid all straight answers. “Is that a yes or a no?” your aunt wants to know. When she reaches to drag a carrot sick through the bowl of dip on the coffee table between […]
Varsha Kukafka: Gentian Violet
There’s a girl following me. I first saw her at Wallach’s when I was drinking my double vanilla shake. When she saw me look at her in the mirror behind the counter, she scooted out. I only saw a flash of purple. I wish she wouldn’t run. I saw her up at the graveyard, too, […]
Annette Ferran: Friday Night Fish Fry
They found themselves that Friday evening at the Methodist church – Mother, Father, Auntie and Uncle, a few of the smaller cousins, and Cissy – because going to the church on a Friday evening to eat fish with the rest of the community was a lovely idea. So Mother declared. It was a nice idea […]
Alice James Books: The Far Mosque
ISBN 1-882295-53-1 $14.95 paperback Review by Jeffrey Ethan Lee There is an intricate interweaving of themes, symbols, and allusions and leitmotifs that make Kazim Ali’s first full-length poetry book, The Far Mosque, resonate with a sense of great drama. One follows the lyric voice through mostly short, self-contained lyrics, but their greater strength lies in […]
Juliet Patterson: Stolen from a Branch
As in the parable, the truant lover arrived. Morning, not a sample a quotation, It was only a bird! but let’s forget about those hidden references touched by something the I don’t know that keeps flying out of your mouth when I’m talking. To believe or not believe that is not the question. Why not […]