DOGMAN IN X PARTS by Alice Maglio
Nightstand condom: faint red on latex. Dogman is peeing. I contemplate my residue. Nothing violent about it, just a swift move at an awkward angle. Only now I realize there must be a tear.
THE DISASTER LOTTERY by David Williamson
A few years back when Iβm twelve and old enough to be alone at home while my parents leave and stay out late, I find some cigarettes and smoke them in the house, then I take two sips each from all the liquor bottles we have in the house, and then I get hit over the head with a premonition that my mom and dad are never coming back home.Β Β I move to the front window, the one that I can see the farthest down the road, and I stare out the glass and watch for their car. I focus…
FBI JESUS by Kevin Nolan
You remember not really understanding the true meaning of Christmas and not worrying for a moment about your ignorance. It didnβt matter. No one ever checked if you knew.
MY FATHER’S HOUSE HAS MANY ROOMS by Todd Clay Stuart
1.
The master bedroom is on the first floor. It has five walls: four of plaster and one of fire that engulfs our mother. We have been told this violates National Fire Protection Association codes and standards.
KEITH HARING’S GHOST PAINTS THE 21ST CENTURY SISTINE CHAPEL IN ONE OF THE TWENTY-PLUS PLACES IN QUEENS WITH THE NAME πππβπ ππππ by J.B. Stone
He wasnβt afraid to crack a grin, in the most colorful sweater, a bejeweled crown atop his head, raising a glass of his favorite cocktail to let the world know he is still kicking it, even in deathβs hallows.
MOONLIGHTERS by Charlotte Dantzer
I breathed in the piss scent of the alleyway through the black knit. Then my face emerged from beyond the shirt, and I stood facing the dead end of the alley holding my breasts with one forearm.
ROAD BLOCKADE PART ONE by Harrison Kim
She rode her pony here and he stinks like old socksβthereβs no bond better than between a woman and her pony. I note she wears striped leotards right up to her loincloth.
THE COCKROACH by Christine Arroyo
She woke up in a classroom. Chalkboard at her head, corkboard at her feet. As she adjusted to the dusk lightβwas it 5 a.m. or 5 p.m.?βshe discovered she wasnβt in the setting of a recurring dream sheβd been having. The βI fell asleep at the desk and missed the most important test of a lifetimeβ dream. No, she was in a hotel room. The Eaton. The card pinned to the corkboard wall held her personalized key to the rooftop gym.Β As she pressed her body against the hotel room window, the humidity moved through the glass and brushed up…
PASSION by Melissa Ostrom
Passion turned thirteen in the middle of July, and when the first light of this day, this special day, woke her and sweetened the darkness like milk stirred into coffee, Passion divided like a cell, turned into two Passions, a watching Passion, a watched Passion. Passion sensed Passion, keenly and with great interest. Herself. Her self.Β Passion thought, Here curls Passion on her side, under a worn sheet, her gaze turned to the paling window. The curve of her hip is slight. The arm hugging the pillow is slim. And there rises the sun. Pay attention, Passion, Passion ordered. Smell…
THEY CAN LIVE WITHOUT FLIES by Michael Seymour Blake
She lay huddled and naked in bed, her skin a grayish black. Her brittle hair broke off at the slightest touch. I rested my head on her rigid body, hearing nothing. I inhaledβa dull, mossy smell. I called Dad. He came over right away. He tapped Mom a few times, then knocked on her like he was knocking on a door. He placed his ear against her open lips. βGet me a flashlight.β I brought him one. He shined light into her mouth. βWhat do you see?β He grabbed a cigarette from the pack in his back pocket. He…