“a vase is beautiful, painted, / bursting with life and the stems shoved down its throat…”

Reema Saleh

Image: Carolyn Hammond, 蜻蜓 (Spring 2019)

“…The water, still cold from springtime, washes over her toes. A breeze pulls strings of dark hair from her updo and blows them in every direction. But she’s not annoyed by it: the wind is free, just like he had said. Yako tucks the strands back behind her ears and peeks over her shoulder.…”

Anna Moise

Image: Perri Wilson, Waders (Spring 2019)

“I witnessed the eater of exotic cheese, / the drinker of priceless wine, the man / of modern appetite adorned in jewels…”

Matthew James Hodgson

Image: Tatiana Goderstad, Pryce over Denver (Spring 2017)

“…I got some tea and lemon and went to my station at checkout line 2. It was different. There was a plexiglass cage around me. I had to move one side to get in.… I kept breathing the same air through my mask and also through the plexiglass cage. It tasted stale.…”

Renee Kenny

Image: Frankie Fung, Fall (Spring 2017)

“shredded from days the pastures / and cornfields and tending to sheep / you’ve landed in a big city…”

Rachel Wan

Image: Charlie Lewis, Leaking (Spring 2019)