In Sofa in the Park, Chris Castle weaves a quietly powerful story about a man confronting his past in the solitude of an empty park. After dragging a sofa to a secluded spot, he sits with a mix of simple items--cigarettes, whiskey and old papers--and reflects on memories of childhood visits to the park with his family. The act of bringing the sofa becomes a symbolic gesture, a way of creating space for reflection and reckoning with loss and time. Through understated prose, Castle paints a poignant portrait of memory, solitude, and the quiet moments that shape our lives.

In Fantastically Raw With Hatred, April Michelle Bratten unleashes a visceral and potent exploration of anger, pain, and the cathartic release that follows. The poem crackles with intensity as the speaker confronts the raw, explosive power of emotion buried deep within. With vivid imagery and a commanding voice, Bratten captures the fierce beauty of rage, transforming it into a force of reckoning. Through powerful language and striking metaphors, this poem delves into the complexity of anger, not as a force to be feared, but as a transformative energy that ignites the self. Fantastically Raw With Hatred is a bold, unapologetic meditation on the fierce reclamation of emotional power.

In Hunny's First Fight, Paul Luikart delivers a gritty and raw coming=of=age tale set against the backdrop of inner-city streets. The story follows Cal and his younger brother, Hunny, as they navigate a world of violence, survival, and fractured family ties. As Hunny joins Cal and the Dragons for his first street fight, the brothers are forced to confront brutal realities far beyond their control. With visceral prose and unflinching honesty, Luikart explores themes of brotherhood, trauma, and the desperate search for identity in a world hardened by poverty and neglect. HunnyFs First Fight is a powerful story of loyalty and the tragic loss of innocence in a dangerous world.

In We’re Here, Pepe Nero captures the raw vulnerability of youth confronting death with a poignant mix of innocence and rebellion. The poem follows a group of boys, too young for the burdens they carry, stumbling through a drunken haze after the funeral of their friend. With cigarettes in hand and arms around each other, they sing a haunting refrain--we're here because we're here==a simple yet profound testament to their existence in the face of loss. Nero's poem powerfully evokes the confusion, camaraderie, and fragile resilience of adolescence as these boys grapple with grief in their own unpolished way.

In Four Ways to Write the Word 'FLY', Ann Walters crafts a deeply evocative and multifaceted exploration of escape, loss, and transformation. Through four distinct vignettes, the word "fly" takes on different meanings--ranging from the mundane presence of a fly in a room to the ethereal flight of a spirit seeking freedom. Walters deftly interweaves moments of heartbreak, longing, and sharp-edged truth, each story fragment unfolding with lyrical prose and emotional depth. This story is a meditation on the fleeting nature of human connections, and the many ways we yearn to rise above or break free from the weight of reality. Four Ways to Write the Word FLY resonates with the complexity of language and the power of unspoken desires.

Art and Illustrations

Doodlebug by Bill West

Oxygen by Digby Beaumont

Kaleidoscope by Kerry Ashwin

The Only Son by Elizabeth Glixman

In The Cat Does Mimic the Sound of a Baby's Cry, Satnrose offers a surreal and poetic journey through fragmented moments of nature, memory, and sensory experience. With vivid, dreamlike imagery, the piece drifts through scenes of rural life--flattened armadillos, firecracker sparks, and bees battling yellow jackets--capturing the mundane and the mystical in equal measure. The title cat, with its haunting mimicry, ties these fleeting moments together, evoking a sense of wonder, melancholy, and the strange harmony of existence. A meditation on life's small details, this work invites readers to explore the mystery hidden in the everyday.

In Dyspraxia, C.B. Anderson offers a wry and introspective exploration of the human condition, laced with humor and existential reflection. The poem grapples with physical awkwardness and the emotional burden of everyday tasks, from the futility of trying to stay clean to the challenge of simply filling one's shoes--literally and metaphorically. Through sharp wit and self-deprecating honesty, the speaker navigates lifeFs imperfections, revealing deeper truths about mortality, desire, and the struggle for control. AndersonFs poem strikes a poignant balance between the mundane and the profound, capturing the essence of a life lived in tension with itself.

In The Last Rodeo, Patsy Covington weaves a quiet, poignant encounter between two strangers in a medical waiting room, each facing their own battles. As they exchange small talk, the story unravels layers of unspoken history, dreams, and regrets. The narrator, awaiting chemo treatment, finds unexpected camaraderie in Rex, a former rodeo clown who hints at a life spent chasing thrills in the rodeo arena. Their brief interaction touches on mortality, nostalgia, and the desire to be remembered for more than one's current circumstances. The Last Rodeo captures the delicate, fleeting moments that reveal deeper human connections in the face of life's hardest trials.

In Sea Party, Chris Crittendon crafts a vivid, surreal underwater tableau where sea creatures become stand-ins for human social dynamics. Through sharp, evocative imagery, the poem transforms minnows, crabs, and tentacled predators into party-goers, feasting on gossip, sarcasm, and underlying tension. With an undercurrent of darkness, the playful ocean scene hints at something more menacing lurking beneath the surface. Sea Party is a captivating exploration of the natural world as a mirror to human interaction, rich with metaphor and the ebb and flow of hidden emotions.