Our fall 2022 reading period begins August 15, with a fee-free window for BIPOC writers followed by our regular window. Send work for consideration for our Labor Issue or for upcoming unthemed issues. Current and new subscribers submit with no fee!
Water-walking wasp, Euodynerus crypticus: Clever, but trivial? A little like magic in that you cannot quite figure out the difference between pain and illusion. Pain level: 1 —Justin O. Schmidt, “Pain Scale for Stinging Insects”
1
Night screech Startle, the heart-race after a human
scream. Then silence and only suspicion of
a crime. Perhaps a rabbit
has flown off with an owl.
Gas-tank light Imagine yourself yesterday,
hesitating, then driving on, calculating
incorrectly the momentum of loss.
Two months to the Caribbean, / our hold crammed tight / with cargo still breathing. // In Lisbon after eight weeks in the bowels / of a slave ship: samples of carmine and indigo. . . .