Swimming in Ginger Ale
by Lisa Ploch Swope

Filling a 1,500-square-foot, split-level house with organic ginger ale is way trickier than it sounds. It helps to know a guy. But if you don’t know a guy, you can hire someone in a back alley or online. How he gets hold of the tanker truck, fire hose, and half a million gallons of ginger ale are his business, not yours. Remind him to use only organic ginger ale because you will not only be swimming in it, you’ll also be sipping it for refreshment. Pay him cash. Get your swimsuit and goggles ready, and stock up on snacks. Install shelves above the proposed ginger ale level, and fill the shelves with nuts and beef jerky. Once the guy seals the doors and windows,you’ll want to stay inside for a while. That way, you’ll get your money’s worth.

 

All Of What We Pass Along & All We Keep Inside
by Francis Daulerio

I come from
a long line of people
who have stood
outside
in their underwear
with shotguns
hollering [nervous] obscenities
and [empty] threats into the darkness.

 

Maria
by Darcy Chanin

wasn’t
I the picture

the
wounds like
freckles

between the lace and the
pink trim of my stockings, right down
the ankle

that was the godly part.

 

–

Lisa Ploch Swope graduated from Northern Illinois University and now lives in Virginia with her husband and two cats. She loves coffee and volunteering at a local cat shelter.

Francis Daulerio is a writer from the Philadelphia suburbs. His first collection of poetry, If & When We Wake, was released in 2015 through Unsolicited Press. More information can be found at www.FrancisDaulerio.com.

Darcy Chanin is a mathematics student and budding poet. She enjoys finding couplets in her group theory textbooks and group theory in her couplets. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Eunoia Review and Short, Fast, and Deadly.