Balloon ing
by: L.J. Bristol

The moon is a thumbnail
tearing a hole in the sky
and the paper lanterns of eyes
wink back to their assignations
under red lights I draw you close
enough to take your breath in
                                                      carbon dioxide balloon of
hot air                 Oh
to be adrift
on unmapped stars

 

 

 

 

Rapunzel with a Bob Cut 
by: Catherine Buck

Rapunzel with a bob cut sits in the window seat,
three floors up in the college library quiet section.
Outside peasants play at war
with tight packed snowballs, trampling
battle lines on the quad. Her history text lays abandoned
in her lap — snow day — no classes — the tudor lineup will have to wait.
She is safe here, in this place where no one will
            ask why she has bought one coffee instead of two,
            why the mint mocha from all semester is in someone else’s order now.

Let down, let down, she let down her guard
and there are few places left to hide but
she is safe here, in the third floor corner
of the library on a snow day
where no one would think to look.

 

 

 

High School, Night Driving
by Amy Rothschild
art by: Sara Mann

If there is a meaning to life
I think it would rhyme, you said,
glancing over as you changed lanes,
teeth biting your lip. 

Your eye caught mine.
Drive right off the road,
I’d die happy
my insides       screamed—

a hot,   metallic heap
of blank   verse

 

–

L.J. Bristol is a consumer and creator of strange fiction.  When not globetrotting, she lives with her cat and a growing collection of coffee mugs.

Catherine Buck holds an MFA from Rutgers University Camden. Her work has appeared in Rougarou Journal, Vestal Review, Bending Genres, Cotton Xenomorph, and elsewhere. You can find her on Bluesky at @catherinebuck.

Amy Rothschild lives among the biotech engineers and wild turkeys of Cambridge, MA. Her creative writing appears in Maudlin House and Points in Case. www.amywrothschild.com. 

Sara Mann is a high school English teacher, writer, and visual artist currently living in Hamilton, Ontario. You can see her work at saramann.me and on Instagram @floatingparaguas.