"Ground Rules" by Tim DeJong
The boy sits in a field.
He is four or maybe three.
Red-shirted, blue-shorted,
he arranges his gathered trifles,
"Berries-n-Crème" by Preeti Vangani
Mouth open, I run
my mother’s last lipstick
over my lips. I’d forfeit
all my words
for a snippet of her voice.
"The Redistricting of Anticipation & Dread" by Duncan Campbell
Our inclination is to assume witness
for the grand & inevitable.
Many, for example, believe the world
will end in their lifetimes.
"Habit" by Gail Martin
That was the day I began to paint the rabbit
with a flat straw hat, a smaller rabbit on top of that,
another hat, a caption that says, “When My Feelings
Have Feelings.” Sadness can become a habit.
"Clouds" by Amanda Span
My father could
burn holes in the clouds
with the power of his mind:
Watch, he says,
"Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation" by Katherine Fallon
Heather, in your dream my loved ones were dunking and holding me underwater as treatment. Everyone, you say, seemed to believe this was a good idea. In truth, your dream was not so much a dream.
"Where Deer Sleep" by George Payne
My three-year-old son
asked me where deer sleep.
So I took him into a space
that is not meant for fathers
and sons.
"Return to Sender" by Natalie Homer
My doe with the limp is one fawn short since spring.
Some time later, in the low moan of a snowstorm
she canters back to the woods, alone.