ISSUE 26 – March 2020

Issue 26 is in anticipation of what may not occur. Every preparatory act is an attempted hope. Every time we put our affairs in order, hope lies with our desire. Whether we’re aware of it or not. So much of life occurs within that space.

Another form of hope is the necessarily menial. It controls what’s in our range, because what’s outside controls us. The results fall prey to instinct. Some instincts are sadistic — these launch retaliation. It lands on others but more often on the self. But, it’s instinct and so indubitably human.

The fly in the ointment is that what’s above instinct, our cornerstones, has somewhat less humanity. These are the codes that run existence. Because they don’t apply only to us, we feel they’re not part of us, and care about them less. Place consciousness in a space that’s governed by the unaware and you get retaliation. Change minds naturally about the cornerstones and you’ll lessen harm.

Read on. Submissions are open for July.

 

Fiction

Entropy of Castaliae… by Stephen Brockbank

     “The poet loved what was his in her.”

Flood by Evan Guilford-Blake

     “she coos an irritated sigh”

 

Non-Fiction

The DJ as Impresario by Dan Souder

     “There a child laborer learned the hustle.”

 

Poetry

The Path by Stephen Cramer

     “birdseed scattered / by wind & squirrels”

The Pickle Shelves by Holly Day

     “growing smooth in the brine”

Horoscope – July 20, 2017 by James Croal Jackson

     “a little more than usual”

Some commandments for the dreamy Erlking by Paweł Markiewicz

     “poesy of historic ethics”

My Gallery by Sandeep Kumar Mishra

     “Inner lumbering of daily freight”

Metro Stalingrad by Elena Mordovina

     “with the next gesture I propose you my high boot”

This chair no longer moves by itself by Simon Perchik

     “all sleeves empty in the dark”

Old Bones in the Forgotten City by Fabrice Poussin

     “Heaped like a warm fir”