Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Petting Mr. Sandberg's Cat by Gloria Heffernen Petting Mr. Sandberg's Cat Depression comes on little cat feet It curls its tail around your ankles rips into you with its claws Leaves you in a silent fogGloria Heffernen is the author of the poetry collection What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List (New York Quarterly Books). She has written two chapbooks: Hail to the Symptom (Moonstone Press) and Some of Our Parts ...

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Paper Dragons by David Porter Paper Dragons It feels foolish to be this old. The world no longer beckons. It’s too late for a hit record, a best-seller, a massif of abdominal muscles buckling beneath the skin, even a semblance of bliss. The world is for the young; it must pass us by. We fall behind it, primping at a shrouded mirror. “Alas,” we say, no longer joking, signifying despair, preface to a eulogy. The tragedies arrive like weather. The losses ...

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 The Slip by Risa Denenberg I was reminded sharply of danger, of throbbing, of sudden death. Here, a lavender bruise. Here, a tender egg at my forehead. At sixteen, I ran smack into a concrete wall, chased down the hall by my brother. Just kids then. I have worn the years of depression from that skull dent with bravura. Today, nausea and vertigo. A concussion? Today I have curtly become an old lady. One who ...

Poetry Issue #3: Pain Continued December 31st, 2019 December 31st, 2019 Poetry Letter from the Poetry Editor: Commonality and Difference Petting Mr. Sandberg’s Cat | Gloria Heffernen Radiograph | Mantz Yorke Files Pending | Victoria Crawford Frances is staring at her plate | Maya Wahrman This Is the Floor Where No Babies Are Saved | Jill Sebacher Healthcare for a Thousand, Please | AT Hincapie Paper Dragons | David Porter Vertigo | Jill Jennings The Places Where They Fell | Sue Fagalde Lick Dear Small Bowel ...