Self-Defense Simon Shieh To be saved         and unsaved. To be wrapped                        in a hotel blanket         under a table because passion. Because pain           is temporary but pride will never abandon you.         I have started to count the reasons we survive.                  All those fires             yelling on the sidewalk and I never once checked my…

Dorsal Atlas of Your Lover’s Absent Vertebrae Erin Kae [ Cervical  ] It’s fact, not romance— a backbone gaping as jack-o-lantern mouth. Peel back the old, shining scar. Find the gaps weightless, immune to gravity. Tiny cities floating where solid spine should be. Look closer. Each its own milky galaxy, separate & bookended by bone….

Jesus Murmurs to His Lover, Half-Asleep Marya Hornbacher Break me. There you are. Then break me, split me open like an agate, crack me against a flat stone, hold my two halves in your two hands and see how hollow things are. The amethysts at agate’s core are relatively cheap, but sharp.  If you curve…

Standing in the Garden of Myself, Barefoot Ashley Kunsa       © Ashley Kunsa ≡≡≡≡≡ Ashley Kunsa‘s work appears in many venues including Sycamore Review, Bayou Magazine, Los Angeles Review, and Penn Review. She is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT, where she lives with her husband and…