Author: Editor Team

Alyssa Belknap Tomorrow we will sit in first period,legs draped over desks and metal bars.We will roll our eyes and exchange glances,wonder what the World will take from ustoday. But all that is for tomorrow. Now I bask in the foreground. Listento cicadas whisper secrets,toss their shells aside, like old cottontraining bras. Only to emerge…

Rachel Riffel You were born into April,when the snowmelt stampedes from themountain, down the fallsand into the rushing river.Cradled by basaltand garnished with cityscapeit finds its new purpose as asalmon-road, a merganser’s meeting place.Like the river, you flooded our lifeand made us forget who we were without you.Just as the lilacs gasped for breath,you bawled…

Jasmyne Bredwell The hallway light flickers like a pulse.We drag the mattress in sideways, laughing,breathless, your elbow knocks the doorframe—a baptism. The old house still clings to my socks:A dust of dog hair, a thumbtack from theposter I never took down, the smell of my mother’seucalyptus lotion rising from the cardboard box labeled as MISC….

Rachel Riffel In spring,when the snow begins to meltand everything is puddle-luscious,we walk the perimeter of my in-law’s propertyto clean out the bird houses,making room for the incoming migrants.My son’s little fingers grab my ownas we follow Papa through mud cakes and bristled grass,and the sun hovers over the tree line. When we come to…

Lexie Barker They say a body is a temple.Skin hairless, blubbery and filled with fat,a sign of youth. Babyfat, they would sayGrowing pains in my calves, each stepburning and aching, foretelling of womanhood. One day, I went up to my mother, whispering nervously,that my chest hurt, my nipples. My mother,told me harshly to not say…

Ariel Lee hydraulic hissingcity bus brakesdoors fold shut with a soda-pop shhhlast one today, I’m afraidwe are a little bit too late, socrow’s nest on sweat-slicked shoulderssummer soaks your favorite clothesblack shades, pebbled leather trenchcoatWesley Snipes as Blade,glossy lead paint on a pocketknifesoot-stained concrete basementpatchouli dragon suffocatesdelighting in frayed strings ignitedone swift strikesickly sweet Snapple…

Lexie Barker Misty grey skies,early mornings withthe pitter patter of rain dropsin the eye of the storm. Curve and dips ofthe mountains,hands run overmy body. Ancient pine treesreaching towards the clouds,roots digging deep,red coily hair blowing in the windI sigh as I breathe in the rain-washed air. Lines etch the rivers in my hands,crisscrossing and…

Samantha Woods When I look in the mirrorI don’t see myselfI see an ideaa thought unfinished.The girl there resemblesa faded imaginary friendsome child had forgotten.She is constantly shiftingchanging with every passing fascination,she nitpicks the qualitiesshe feels the need to use more,for people to talk aboutwhen she leaves the room,to make her memorable. When I look…

Lesly Portugal  I rose again. Not crowned, not chosen,but drawn by gravity older than thrones,a call like starlight tugging at the tide of my blood.Something would not disappear. A dim pull lingered, like warmth of a sun long extinguished,drawing me from the soil, where my failures had learned my shape. I had loved once. In…