southern gothic: Poem by RC deWinter
your mother’s gardenias still bloom / on the blue porch with the faded bench
Three in the Morning and You Don’t Smoke Anymore: Story by Peter J. Stavros
It’s that thing that wakes you at three in the morning, with a gasp and a startle.
Magdalena: Poem by Mark Fitzpatrick
spike-heels scuffed from the journey through night, / sway down the bitterness of this street
The Grief Eater: Story by Deirdre Fagan
I read it in the paper, the news about the 87-year-old man who went to bed with a bump on his head and never awoke again.
Wedding Bells: Story by M. Nazar Syed
I looked down and saw my hands clenched tighter than they’d ever clenched before. A bead of sweat formed on my temple.
Three Poems by David Lohrey
Beside the red barn / at an intersection / between today and tomorrow, / a man from Alabama plays the banjo on his knee
Pity
by Claire Hopple
Smith’s sister convinced him to move in with her and her husband. They weren’t able to have kids and he could tell even over the phone that she relished the chance to mother him.
Change of Address
by Maggie Lane
I feel another body from the empty side of the bed pressing against mine, a heavy, immovable body made of worry and anxiety.
Six Decades of Savouring
by Stephanie Hutton
The boiler’s death rattle shook the walls just as snow started to sprinkle over the moorlands.
Horoscopes for Writers — August 2017
Word counts, book sales, even romance: the only astrological guide a writer needs.
Three Poems by Victoria Ruwi
Manless I dance; my shadow follows me. / I can shift its weight, whirl with indifference.
Object Permanence
by Amye Archer
It is dark. The summer is ending, but we can still taste her on our tongues. Twenty beers between us has made you hungry for me.
Death’s Dancer, by Jasmine Silvera
Review by Joy Ralph
At first glance, this is a deceptively simple-sounding romance: talented dancer falls for mysterious, powerful and possibly dangerous client.
Two Poems by David Spicer
Before I toast you with Here’s / to the Buddhist who never judges, / I’ll tell a joke about a black marble / statue of Lenin everybody thinks / is you.
The Unaccompanied Journey
by Jennifer Pruiett-Selby
This busy week is when the remaining members of my father-in law’s platoon will to travel to Tennessee for one final gathering.
Sonder
by Kelly Konya
When he speaks of mindfulness and writes it off— / prayer is better suited but for what?— / I can tell he believes it, fathoms it clearly.
Take Five With Roy White
We discovered the joy of Roy White’s poetry at our sister magazine, The Lascaux Review, where his piece “Improv” snatched the air from our lungs.
Three Poems by Kathryn A. Kopple
Until you perceive the extreme loneliness of flannel, / And rub your hands on the paint smacked brick walls
The Invisible Man
by Michael Fryd
He was startled when he looked up to center his tie and saw nothing: no face, hair, chest, hands, shirt, tie—no George.
Kumm Fer en Gutte Zeit
by Catherine Deiley
Mid-October wrapped its orange arms around southeast Pennsylvania, and the sweaty hallways of Oley Valley High School, where Cassidy Angstadt waded through the start of her freshman year.
southern gothic
by RC deWinter
your mother’s gardenias still bloom / on the blue porch with the faded bench
