The Texas book rating law is thbbt!
The NBA longlists
Give something a name, and suddenly it’s a thing
NBA gives Drew Barrymore the boot
No more mandatory deposit at the copyright office
Groups file suit to block the insane Texas book rating law
Lullaby for My Brother
by Carmen Fought
When I listen for your heart / I listen with my hands, / I listen with a hand on your chest
What to Make of a Diminished Thing
by Laura Ruby
People ask how I feel these days but / my tongue is both too sharp and too tender.
If I Ever Have a Daughter
by Chris Atkin
If I ever have a daughter I hope she knows / that even though her father’s bones / are made of mountains, in these hands / she will find nothing but softness
Wondrous
by Sarah Freligh
My mother is crying again, and we’re laughing / at her because we know nothing of loss and its sad math
I Fail My Step-Daughter
by Cecil Morris
I was her second-chance, replacement dad, / a do-over daddy meant to keep her safe
Knotworks
by Terry Trowbridge
The shortest unit of time in my life / was the space between undoing one shoelace / and about to undo the other.
Two Poems
by Sheree La Puma
Give me silence & sadness, a taste of citrus swallowed after a shot, something bitter like daughters who have parted ways.
Confession
by Hayden Saunier
I fell in love with a field of rye. / It happened this spring for the first time and I am not young.
The Night Yard
by Ellen Romano
My mother has asked me if I see / wild animals around town. / She moves in and out of lucidity
Toward the End of March
by Justin Hunt
Pollen dusts our yard. The oaks, heavy / with seed, rake the past from wind, / and an old friend’s voice comes to me
It all began around a campfire…
Beautiful language
is meant to be heard as well as read, and in fact words were vocalized eons before they were ever committed to clay or parchment. Storytelling began around campfires. We seek prose and poetry that continue the tradition.
Contributor Spotlight:
Box Office Gospel
by Marissa Glover
Open Contests
by Stephen Parrish, with the editors of The Lascaux Review
