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An elderly man prepares broccoli with slivered almonds and lemon juice, his hands shaky. An elderly woman snores and dreams in her cane rocker, Brahms crescendoing on the radio, Wheel of Fortune muted on the television.
By Leath ToninoApril 2025I prefer the fence-colored bird / who has no song, / or none that he shares with me. // Each day at dusk he stops by to scold me. / Quietly, with a stiff hop. / He seems to know I’ve wasted the day.
The first step is to imagine. / No, before that: breathe. Breathe, and know / breath. That’s where it begins.
By Richard ChessApril 2025A big bumbling bee / hovers like a chopper near your head / and you were going to swat him / but instead you laugh and wave / like a nut because you’re not / at your job and at times / it can be nice to be regarded.
By Jeff TigchelaarMarch 2025Dad was happiest in early spring, / when the lake thawed and the fish stirred. / When bluegills rose to snowflakes. / When the whole world got hungry.
By Andrea L. FryMarch 2025I hate it / when they do that. Like I’m easy / to love. Like love is a heart / he can sit behind / the wheel of, drive / through town, windows / down, dog and girl along / for the ride, as if he’ll never / ever change his mind.
By Laura DidykMarch 2025I try to feed the chicks mealworms from my hands, / crouching there sometimes for hours. // I can’t remember how / to make them believe in kindness.
By Chera HammonsFebruary 2025I was a sleepwalker through most of those days. A passenger in / my own life. I couldn’t look / to my family and see myself reflected there. I was / born to no one. I was wild.
By Didi JacksonFebruary 2025We exist on the cusp of light and ruin. / Some nights I pray for time // to fold into itself, then spit us out / small and smooth like tumbled rocks, // alloys of past and present.
By Reese MenefeeJanuary 2025The day I waded out of the lake with a stand-up / paddleboard and a split tooth was four days after I knew / I would leave you and eight days before I told you / I knew.
By Angela JandaJanuary 2025Personal, political, provocative writing delivered to your doorstep every month—without a single ad.
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