by Amanda Downum

Snow piles in bone-drifts outside the door, but it’s warm beside my oven.

I’m alone in the cottage now. My brother left not long after our stepmother died. Foolish boy—he’d never have found wolfsbane in his tea, but he couldn’t trust me. He was little more than sticks bound with skin and rag; I wonder if he’ll ever eat without fear again.

Father suffered for months; … Read entire article »

by JoSelle Vanderhooft

My doughty knight
with rosebud-snapping lips
has taken me,
his scoliotic hag-bride,
into his petaled bed.
As cold bells proclaim our union
against the stiff-lipped ramparts
he has removed my veil,
smiled,
like one drinking bitter beer.

Yet, with care befitting such a gentleman,
he has stoppered his flood-spreading gorge,
leaned over me,
and kissed my chapping harelip
as if I were a girl of twenty-two.
He has rocked back
on ankles … Read entire article »

by Darja Malcolm-Clarke

When the birds came, we novices fed them bread from the last night’s meal. The sunlight shone on the gloss of their purple wings as they feasted and filled the courtyard with their cries. Afterwards, they shat copiously upon the temple stairway, and I and the other youngest novices were made to scrub it off late into the night.

The next day, the birds returned, blotting the sun from the sky as … Read entire article »

by J.C. Runolfson

It was the storks who told me
my mother’s kin
she flew from the southern land of endless sun
to this place
for her father’s sake
she stopped to rest
on the marsh
and that’s when it happened.

Her sisters stole her wings and flew away
a child’s game
they were all children
she would have given chase but she was tired
they would have come back but

But

the … Read entire article »

by Donna Quattrone

Once upon a time,
The old stories spoke
Of throwing the frog,
(Ingratiating helpmate
That he was),
Splat! against the wall.
Not nice, that.
Somewhere along the line,
The tale was changed
To kissing instead. Please.
Slimy and wet
With webbed fingers,
Rubbery lips and “ribbit” ?
I’m not entirely sure I’d
Call that better really.
But, kissing it is, these days.
So. We lean in close,
Eyes squeezed shut,
Lips trembling in
Read entire article »