Cheryl Dumesnil
A Dissertation on Quantum Entanglement as a Love Song

Cheryl Dumesnil - A Dissertation on Quantum Entanglement as a Love Song

Poetry
Cheryl Dumesnil's books include the poetry collections Showtime at the Ministry of Lost Causes and In Praise of Falling (University of Pittsburgh Press); a memoir, Love Song for Baby X (Ig… Read more »
Jessica Piazza
Alice, 41

Jessica Piazza - Alice, 41

Poetry
Jessica Piazza is the author of three poetry collections and a children's book. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Jessica now lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches at the University of Southern… Read more »
Clint Bentley
Baptism at the Cineplex 9

Clint Bentley - Baptism at the Cineplex 9

Fiction
Clint Bentley is a writer and filmmaker. His most recent film as a writer was Transpecos. This story is his first published work of fiction. Read more »
Lillian Johnson
Borderlands

Lillian Johnson - Borderlands

Fiction
Lillian Johnson is an emerging writer and Literature graduate with a BA from the University of Exeter. Her story “Retainer on a Bedside Table” was published in Exeter University’s literary… Read more »
Joshua Martin
Hamlet on the Shuttle

Joshua Martin - Hamlet on the Shuttle

Poetry
Joshua Martin is finishing up his PhD in poetry at Georgia State University. He has published poems or has poems forthcoming in The South Atlantic Review, The Potomac Review, Salamander, Carolina… Read more »
A. Grifa Ismaili
Hit Them with Your Eyes

A. Grifa Ismaili - Hit Them with Your Eyes

Fiction
A. Grifa Ismaili is a Jersey-born writer whose work has appeared in Fiction International, Citron Review, Literary Orphans, and Press 53’s Everywhere Stories, among others. A recent Pushcart Prize… Read more »
Matthew W. Baker
I’m told the story of how my college-age father “fell” from a building but survived,

Matthew W. Baker - I’m told the story of how my college-age father “fell” from a building but survived,

Poetry
Matthew W. Baker grew up in Pittsburgh, PA but currently lives in Reno, NV and teaches high school English. He received his MFA from the University of Nevada, Reno. His work has appeared in The Vitni… Read more »
Libby Heily
In Pieces

Libby Heily - In Pieces

Fiction
Libby Heily is a writer based in New York. Her young adult fantasy series is published through Fire and Ice YA Publishing. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including Daily… Read more »
Stacey Park
In There

Stacey Park - In There

Poetry
Stacey Park is a Korean-Canadian writer living in southern California at the moment. She is a PhD student and assistant editor for Foothill Journal. Her work is forthcoming or has appeared in… Read more »
Victor Yang
Karaoke

Victor Yang - Karaoke

Fiction
Victor Yang is a queer writer and educator based in Boston. His writing has been published or is forthcoming in Fourth Genre, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, The Tahoma Literary Review, The Boston Globe, and… Read more »
Stephen Tuttle
Leah, Unloved

Stephen Tuttle - Leah, Unloved

Poetry
Stephen Tuttle's fiction and prose poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Threepenny Review, The Southern Review, The Gettysburg Review, The Normal School, Hayden's Ferry Review, and elsewhere.… Read more »
Ian Baaske
Morris Station

Ian Baaske - Morris Station

Fiction
Ian Baaske’s work has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Warship, and The Puritan's Town Crier. His screenplay, “Daisy,” was a semifinalist in Zoetrope’s Screenplay Competition last year.… Read more »
Rachel Morgan
Pray v. Prey

Rachel Morgan - Pray v. Prey

Poetry
Rachel Morgan is the author of the chapbook, Honey & Blood, Blood & Honey (Final Thursday Press, 2017), and she is the co-editor of Fire Under the Moon: An Anthology of Contemporary Slovene… Read more »
Sara Eddy
Starvation

Sara Eddy - Starvation

Poetry
Sara Eddy is a writing instructor at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts. Some of her poems have appeared recently in Zingara, Tishman Review, and Heartwood, and are forthcoming in Raw Art… Read more »
Adam Byko
The Automatic Man

Adam Byko - The Automatic Man

Fiction
Adam Byko is an MFA candidate and Provost Fellow at the University of Central Florida. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Pinch, F(r)iction, and the Notre Dame Review among other… Read more »
Curtis Smith
The Creek

Curtis Smith - The Creek

Fiction
Curtis Smith has published over 100 stories and essays, and his work has been cited by or included in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, The Best American Spiritual… Read more »

A Dissertation on Quantum Entanglement as a Love Song

Cheryl Dumesnil

I whispered your name in a napkin, crumpled it into my palm and opened an empty hand. I poured our story in a coffee mug and buried it in the weeds behind the park bench. A love so secret I refused to tell it even to myself. I dreamed we kissed in the cafeteria line while the steward looked away. I sang you loudly in an empty car, mountain storm slicking the roads. Stay home, the ocean, who never lies, told me, so I did. Runner, I imagined my words becoming the pulse in your ears. I dreamed your shoes beneath my bed. Your wet paint tenderness. Your shimmer like water held at the brink of over-spilling the cup. The sun, who is always right, aimed her compass point at my chest and said, Wait, you'll be amazed. Years gone, your scent woven in the cables of a thrift shop cardigan. I wished you well under the changing colors of a sourwood tree— your words arrived not like a dam burst, more like a rhythm I'd never noticed, pulsing in my throat.
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