Poetry

Issue 43
A Spring Without Us

by Talia Bloch.
“The playground has been locked for months. / A swing coughs dryly in the shade.”

Issue 43
Surviving You

by Anthony Ageuro.
“I don’t know how I did it, / loved you all those years in the quiet landscape / of a burning vineyard, of a toppling mountain…”

Arlo

by Monica Wendel.
“After putting our child to sleep, I hear gunshots – / quiet, quieter than fire alarms, fireworks, thunder, / quieter than sirens, music in the park, or backfiring cars.”

The Shed

by Elana Bell.
“Each time something went missing— /
the photo album of my first / year, postcard from a forgotten friend…”

Price Tag

by Alma Gaxiola.
“If every life’s a story / Then their’s will always be worth more / Mine was drowned out by the water / Running like fathers for the door…”

O To Be a Semiautomatic Weapon

by Marie McGrath.
“Imagine me: fearsome, protected, /
my skull a clean and empty chamber…”

After the Loss of My Daughter to Suicide

by Laura Apol.
“on her desk / there was a handwritten list of guns / there was the cash receipt for the gun…”

After Another School Shooting, I Drive the Back Roads of New Hampshire

by Deborah Murphy.
“Late June fields greening / under a mottled sky. / An oriole slashes orange /
against a shingled Cape Cod.”

Dear Shooter,

by Rachel Ullah.
“Bloodstains left / on the sidewalk / Body bags, / Yellow tape, / Why don’t you think about the consequences / You’re going to have to face?”