Wrapped in a Banana Leaf // J. Rodriguez
wrapped in a banana leaf, // i float in the sea. // i smell like earth. // i am still green. // and when the soldiers come to get me, dressed // in their sunday killing best, // i will raise my arms // up towards the sun // and i will put up no fight.
Trespassing // David B. Prather
The first time I saw a jack-in-the-pulpit,
it was an accident,
or is that by accident? Trees scattered
shadows, and
a freshwater spring wept from the side
of a hill. Or was that me?
Giraffes // Cathy Rose & Tash Kahn
Do you like being tall?
It’s like water. You drink it, you swim in it, you are it.
Hah, tall glass of water, anyone ever—?
Yes.
Did you play basketball?
Ping pong.
A Plain Old Man // William Doreski
Being a plain old man stuck
in a savage village, I take the wind
as personally as a bar brawl.
Trees consider touching their toes.
To the Saber-Toothed Tiger Cub Found in the Permafrost // Eliza Marley
When your eyes open again, it will be with glass and wood wool, foreign fiber coaxing the ghosts of orbital muscles back to full roundness, how you might have looked at your mother when feeding from her or basking in the sunlight, your claws not yet sprouted and your fangs not yet seasoned
Self Portrait as the Last Kumquat // Annie Diamond
We cool our feet in the oldest pool in Santa Ana,
built 1929. I am 29, inelegant save for swimming.
Remembering how to breathe among wisteria
and lilies, Easter. Is the Eiffel Tower the most
famous thing in the world?
Strauss’s Last Songs // Sandra Kolankiewicz
Later, I sought solitude, sure being
alone was not the same as loneliness,
till I started to recall and, in the
remembering, understood the broken
glass, the hand moving faster than I could
see.
Safety Procedures for Supposed Cadavers // Michael Murphy
Safety Procedure #1: Never respond to a knock. Yes, it could be saag paneer. It could also be a grinning psychopomp, wellness check, or Maxine Jablonski from 1A.
Be There or Be Square // Frederick Pollack
Clark in his book on Modernism
goes on and on about the green
half of the canvas above David’s dead
Marat. To which one intuitively adds
Malevich’s Black Square.
middle school Book Report: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus // Aaron D. Fried
I love this book! It was very inspirational. Any time you can read a how-to guide on creating a monster, you have to do it. And I’m excited to try it out! The only difficulty is figuring out who I should use. I thought about my little sister, but after I’m done transforming her into a monster, no one would be able to tell the difference.
Sit and Spin | Brian Conlon
It was our first trip in years. A road trip to somewhere young people lived, and people like us sometimes visited. Recommended by our therapist to spice things up, to give us some perspective on what he called our co-dependent relationship with our cat Alex, who slept in our bed, and whose feline malaise we’d both, according to him, to varying degrees, co-opted.
Terrible Pitch: Gatorade for Babies // Andy Clark
Picture it. There’s a little kiddie pool full of Gatorade. What flavor? Whatever one you’re thinking. Inside the pool? Half a dozen babies. We’ve got babies in goggles, babies with water wings, one of them is playing the electric guitar - she’s the cool baby. Samuel Jackson does a voice-over.
Horoscope / Affirmation / Promise /Prayer // Haylee Shull
May will break your heart, but not for the reason you expect.
You will know hunger. You can interpret this however you choose.
On the other side of your grief is (I’m so sorry to tell you) more grief. What I’m saying is, you will hear the wind through the leaves and it will sound like rain.
old daze // Thomas Zimmerman
Venetian blinds moonlit your belly sliced
like bread // before though kisses traded rassling
in the weedy lot behind the Beef Days
Ferris wheel
I Wish I Was a Riot Grrrl // Jadey Holcomb
Can I drink Cherry Bomb
lipstick, chew fishnets for dessert?
Press your lips to mine, fill me -
bones and all - with your smoke.