October 2025
Volume 9, Issue 1
In this issue
Editorial
On “Relatability”
Thus we have the apparently paradoxical situation in which the reader is forced to reveal aspects of himself in order to experience a reality which is…
By Prof. Jonathan Taylor (Leicester University)
Poetry
Caged Bird
In the narrow Msida yard where my daughter’s ancestors grow lettuce: a greenfinch. / My girl reaches her hand and makes an open-close motion, little paw…
Poetry
Grief Song
After Immanuel Mifsud / Night fell and cars lit their headlamps. / Night fell and street lights flared. / Night fell and the sky glowed gold. / Night fell…
Poetry
Afternoon Moon
After Nicole Gonzalez / In the afternoon the moon / gets up from its desk, / goes to the bus stop.
Poetry
My First Song
I was maybe 5 or 6, / downstairs at my grandma’s house / with the orange 70s carpet / repeating lines I had come up with. / Something of opposites, of ice…
Poetry
Ap-a-ta-pa-tit
Stench lingers beneath my arms / stretching knuckles against smooth white, / it speaks to me, saying—steady, steady. / Filling the hollow of my hips—more,…
By Ħaley Xuereb
Poetry
Helpline / Hold Music
I fumble with the details like I’m shuffling a pack of cards underwater, awkward and / slow, as rigid certainty gives way to mulch.
By Oz Hardwick
Fiction
Snowfall
Tony France came looking for me in the garden maze where I was pruning the hedges. “You can leave that for now,” he said. “Mr. Davidson has a special job…
By Mark Keane
Poetry
Sacred glade
Sacred glade, / the spirits of the past linger here, / whispering voices of dry leaves and / grass that twists about the ankle. / I found her here,…
By Craig Murray
Poetry
Twenty Years Since...
Tried to write about that day so many times / Cried in fright into the grey, then the rhymes / Avalanched from my thumbs, wanting to / Pound my fist into…
Poetry
such a strange day
what a weird day it was / that day / 1. to die like that / 2. when the wind pulled the wings / off flocks of geese / 3. and traffic stopped to watch / 4.…
By Allen Seward
Poetry
the field-dressing of a deer
my father gave me this knife / but never taught me how to use it. / I’ve been picking my teeth with it / and cleaning the dirt out from under my…
By Allen Seward
Poetry
When they were small
I know better my hands / than my face / they wake my mornings / they bathe and dry my skin / they throw themselves into / the waves of my hair / they…
Poetry
Flâneuse
The poet Gérald de Nerval strolled with his pet lobster, / Thibault, on a blue silk ribbon-leash, argued / a lobster was no more ridiculous than a dog. /…
Poetry
Fashion
On the subway, I’m looking at a woman seated across from me, all dressed in pink. / Pink clogs with pink jewels, pink socks, pink pants and shirt, pink…
Poetry
The Poor Are Always Crossing the Sahara
Poems about James Baldwin / (1924-1987) / Feeling invisible in America / James Arthur Jones Baldwin / Jimmy to his friends, step- / father a preacher,…
Poetry
Trouble Means You’re Alone
Poems about James Baldwin / (1924-1987) / I want to be an honest man / and a good writer. / He arrived in France / with forty dollars / no savings / no…
Flash
The Fireman’s Wife
Translated by Leo Shtutin Small-statured Master Zet is dressed in blue knee-highs, burgundy breeches and thin-soled sandals.
Poetry
Inheritance
If you don’t mind a touch of hell-- / could we imagine a return to our prayers? / In their fragile heels and long black skirts, / I’m speaking with my…
Poetry
Beauty Marred My Own Little Cargo Cult
As a child, mother’s aluminium head-lice comb / Was more beautiful than any princess’s diadem. / I saw it’s avatars in music box clockworks, / Turnstile’s…
Poetry
The Apocryphal Anglerfish
Many people will / postulate, or comment / with frustrated smugness. / Some will weep / and mythologize. / Others will sneer / and provide scientific…
Flash
Guāi 乖
When she’s born, she is greeted by a word that is the sound of a lowered jaw, pursed lips and breath pushing high against the tongue, straight into the…
By Annie ZH Sun
Poetry
The Mountain-Drifter
The world only a rumor / Hard to leave, unwavering / In exile and posterity; / Unison as untroubled / As the breeze, touching nothing / But the moonlight…
Poetry
New Morning
Early morning, / cocks stop crowing, / other birds take up the call. / A town awakes, / leaves the sex dreams in their bed somewhere, / pushes the fear…
By John Grey
Poetry
multilingual
a polyglot / living monolingually / the language I used to speak / warm / cold / the only thing I had / the phrases and metaphors and slang / picked up…
Poetry
Transplant
In the back alleys of Salamanca, / a stray dog knocked out my knees, / and I fell / into a sticky puddle, / smacked skull on / golden stone. / Suddenly /…
Poetry
our end
you are old and very sick / now so you ask if I remember / this and that and I do / but it doesn’t help because / I also remember what / you say you never…
Poetry
Ekphrastic Goodwill
With his right eye unblinking and askance / and his left too trusting by far, he stares / and stares at me.
Poetry
Your Excellencies
Your excellencies / You've won / We no longer discuss / Your FAILURES / In our majlis / Under tree shades / By the roadsides / We only discuss / Our…
Fiction
A Bloom of Jellyfish
People say you remember your first time with a clarity like no other.
By Danila Botha
Poetry
April 2024 in New York with a Line from Moonstruck
For Samer Alatout / Cops arrest protesters at CUNY / and the fountain at Lincoln Plaza / helpless and beautiful as God / descends from the Catskills / lit…
By Anthony Lioi
Poetry
Jennifer versus Climate Change
I’m palpating tomatoes at the farmer’s market / and I turn to Jennifer who I haven’t seen / since the remnant of Hurricane Ida hit / and I say to her:…
By Anthony Lioi
