The Octopus at the Camden Aquarium

  The Octopus at the Camden Aquarium Robin Gow   “You know if octopuses lived longer they’d probably rule the world,” I said to you while you cooked dinner on the tiny dorm-sized stove. You were making shrimp stir-fry and we’d just finished watching an episode of Blue Planet. We were making our way through […]

What shall I do with my proud little mushroom cap?

  What shall I do with my proud little mushroom cap? Lou Spence   I’d been on testosterone about six months when suddenly I looked in the mirror and saw this guy. Not unlike my brother as a teenager but smaller, blonder, a bit prettier. When I wasn’t looking at myself I didn’t feel any […]

Performance Theory

  Performance Theory Catherine Chen   whereas it was never apparent. whereas moods change, or disperse, according to the annual rate of families who must adjust their vacation plans due to generational strife & dispute. whereas all that I want could not be sustained in the hole I lived or in the hole I slept, […]

The Tale of a Chinese Finger-Trap

  The Tale of a Chinese Finger-Trap Zak Salih   It starts as whimsy. You’re bored and it’s late on a Thursday and you had one too many beers with your new coworkers and you can’t sleep like you usually do after beers. So you go online. Maggie says you’re too good for apps like […]

Capitalism is a Mental Illness…. I Should Know

  Capitalism Is A Mental Illness… I Should Know Shanekia McIntosh   What a peculiar thing to be content with oppression. I. The doomsday clock ticks on! Persistently. On the outside of the moment. Looking, slipping. Everyone has a hyper/reaction. How do you sound the alarm to trigger some sort of reflection if our attention […]

Borders

  Borders Elliott Turner   Alejandro Toloza took a deep breath. He unbuttoned the collar on his white dress shirt and took off his black jacket. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his brow; he could feel the Texas sun even through the overcast sky. Dr. Toloza and his two young […]

Pangasinan for Doking

  Pangasinan for Doking Janice Lobo Sapigao after Terisa Siagatonu ‘Pang’ is a prefix meaning ‘for’ ‘Asin’ meaning salt ‘An’ indicates a place Pangasinan is a place for salt

When She Asks What I Am Afraid Of

  When She Asks What I Am Afraid Of Christian J. Collier   I tell her that my fear is that, some day, while we are caught in the raw, stout emotion of an argument, the word nigger will be a bronzed bullet fired from her mouth, cast at me for no other reason than […]

Woman with Death on Her Mind

  Woman with Death on Her Mind Nina Oteria   1. A “Woman with Death on Her Mind” I begin by writing into the spill. Crave intimacy, veiled thoroughly there. How many holes are there in my body? All I feel is . I think about what to write for niggas who don’t read anymore. […]