Stephen Cramer
Choice

Stephen Cramer - Choice

Poetry
Stephen Cramer’s first book of poems, Shiva’s Drum, was selected for the National Poetry Series and published by University of Illinois Press. Bone Music, his sixth,won the Louise Bogan Award and… Read more »
Robin Gow
Fetch

Robin Gow - Fetch

Poetry
Robin Gow is a trans and queer poet and Young Adult author from rural Pennsylvania. Robin is the author of the chapbook Honeysuckle by Finishing Line Press and the collection Our Lady of Perpetual… Read more »
Lis Sanchez
My Solitude Is Not as It Once Was

Lis Sanchez - My Solitude Is Not as It Once Was

Poetry
Lis Sanchez has poetry in Plume, The Puritan, Prairie Schooner, Cincinnati Review, Harvard Review Online, The Bark, Copper Nickel, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council… Read more »
James McKean
Reasons to Plant Raspberries

James McKean - Reasons to Plant Raspberries

Poetry
James McKean writes both poetry and non-fiction. He’s published three books of poems, Headlong, Tree of Heaven, and We Are the Bus, and two books of essays, Home Stand: Growing Up in Sports, and… Read more »
Jarid McCarthy
The Maiden Speaks from a Willow Root

Jarid McCarthy - The Maiden Speaks from a Willow Root

Poetry
Jarid McCarthy is a poet and playwright residing in Southern California. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Foglifter, Night Music Journal, Surfaces, and Old Youth Magazine. He is the creator… Read more »
David Bergman
The Man Approached by Dead Lovers

David Bergman - The Man Approached by Dead Lovers

Poetry
David Bergman is Professor Emeritus of English from Towson University and the author or editor of twenty books. Next year Black Spring Press will publish his first two murder mysteries, Unassisted… Read more »

My Solitude Is Not as It Once Was

Lis Sanchez

Auntie Leota rejoices in her Independent Living flat. Here, she says, you’ve got a koi pond beneath the bridge and American Beauties just at the brink of the parking lot and you’ve got a greensward outside the compound. And winning at billiards can’t get any simpler. And it’s never too late to try yukking it up in a foreign language with your friend who comes faithfully on Tuesdays to shampoo you. Plus, keeping a routine untroubles your mind. You’re free to forget to change out of your gray sweats or to leave your choppers in the glass. And visiting so many captivating specialists kills time. When night falls you tidy up, you twist tight the trash bag and crush it under foot until it’s smaller than an old boot, then you store it in the mini fridge, pausing in the light of the half-open door, the way you might wait under a rented tiki torch watching the last guest get out of the pool after a party that felt like a drowning at the end, or just before.
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