Later That Day by Aishwarya Raghunath
Art by author

we pulled over at the fair. we stood in two long lines: girls. boys. mothers were allowed in both lines.
our line was longer. (there are more girls in the world.) ma braided my hair in one. daddy bought us
cotton candy. he blew smoke rings through the Ferris wheel. he used to be angry. ma braided my hair in
two. the line got shorter. the height checker’s voice got louder. he had two jobs: make sure no child on
the boat is over four feet. lift the child by its upper arm onto the boat.

i did not like the boat man.
i did not mind.
i do this every summer.
i did not mind.
i got to ride on the boat.
i did not mind.

later that day
the boat man told me i am four foot four.
i did not like the boat man.

 

to a rodent, with love by A. J. Howells
Art by author

I once had a neighbor who wrote poster board poems,
which he taped to his living room window
for all of the alley to see.

His masterwork was a poem about a rat he’d befriended on his stoop.
The rat had dislodged his writer’s block,
and in return, he displayed this tribute,
hoping to inspire the masses of drunks
stutter-stepping down the alley every evening.

That neighbor might still live there,
might still be self-publishing,
or at the very least,
making new friends

 

how to cook a (perfect) fried egg by Angie Kang
Photography by author

my friend’s answer to anything is to give it time

but I don’t know,

I wanted an easier answer

for my eggs

I buttered the pan turned the fire on low cracked

yolks spread streams

I followed one such stream and forgot to turn off the fire

 

years later, my eggs are quietly ready

whole-bodied and lukewarm

 

–

 

Aishwarya is a 26-year-old Academic Editor from Bangalore, India. Her work has previously appeared or is upcoming in magazines such as the Louisville Review, Glass Mountain Magazine, aaduna, Vayavya, and Ink Sweat & Tears.

A. J. Howells has made books through MakeshiftPress.org. He has written several short stories for Workers Write! and The First Line. He has made friends in alleyways.

Angie Kang is a writer and illustrator born in China, bred in California, and now based in Rhode Island. For breakfast, she likes both oranges and hardboiled eggs, but only really enjoys peeling the latter.