Poetry
Roommate
by Arthur H. Manners in Issue Twenty-Two, February 2026
The day after Danny died of pneumonia He came downstairs to call the landlord. I watched trembling from the kitchen As he rasped and bubbled into his phone, “Damp’s gotten worse, you need to get down here.” “Danny, you’re dead,” I said, “They took you away in a bag.” He just smiled, his teeth mos...
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Persephone Wins Custody of Herself
by Marisca Pichette in Issue Twenty-Two, February 2026
here at the edge, I’m ready to fall. Lean in, little girl— drop pumpkin blossoms into my depths Look into the dark and tell me you don’t want to go. between cold-pink toes the grass my mother worked so hard to plant wilts, browns, dies. white dress stained muddy at the hem, hair tangled wit...
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Mothercraft (a villanelle)
by Erin Brown in Issue Twenty-Two, February 2026
It isn’t magic, doll, which fastens you. I am the needle, thread, I am the pin. It is the art I wield, the work I do. I hasten credit where I think it due, And do not find earned pride to be a sin. It isn’t magic, doll, which fastens you. The craft of making men is far from new. The stuffing p...
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If I must exist here,
by Eleanor Ball in Issue Twenty-Two, February 2026
then with open arms. Bitten nails. Tongue bloody from eating itself like a snake. From pressing my mouth to yours. Oracle, puzzle, three-body problem. Then in prayer, licking the wounds of the earth. Then sunflowers, springing from my upturned palms, rimmed with blood-crust, the new Sti...
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