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By Robert Nicholl Looking at seeds upon seeds, many pages in a bright and glossy catalog, each one is a hope waiting to be given a chance. The earth is still frozen, unable to be worked, it waits impatiently for my spade and fork to turn it. Twenty feet by twenty feet is the whole…

by Elizabeth Rae Bullmer When the mood shifts from chai latte to single malt scotch, barometric pressure drops like a bass note beat and lighting dims dusky pre-storm green, hips slow-motion gyrate in slim ellipse, femur surface-skims the hollow palm of acetabulum; skin lifts in anticipation, breath caught in the wet curve of pharynx, ready to resonate as lips unfurl. Even the evening birds…

by Thaddeus Rutkowski I carried my bicycle slowly, up the stairs from our building’s basement. In the front hallway, I guided the bike around packages, past the tenants’ vanity mirror, and through the heavy glass doors. I’d been told not to lift more than ten pounds after my surgery, and the bike weighed more than…

By Robert Nicholl The compost heap in my garden is a wondrous temple. It is not a disgusting place of refuse, but where one thing ends, and another begins. Shuffling out each morning, I leave an offering like flowers at a grave. The daily pilgrimage with scraps and fragments, each one a prayer: chicken waste,…

By Paul Ilechko When I was a dog I was still able to move my ears I lived in the mountains where the snow was deep for nine months of the year what else do you need to know now I have bookshelves and I’ve been overawed by the light that filters through stained-glass windows…

By Robert Nicholl In a corner of my garden, a young apple tree stands straight and round in its perfect shape. But just to the north, is the old apple tree. This elder has been beaten by storms, parched by the summer sun, and spent years being tormented by squirrels and deer. Its shape leans…

by K.C. Field I lost my new house key almost immediately after moving in. Playing with my dog in the unfamiliar backyard, I tripped over a bulge hidden in the tall grass, launching myself and the contents of my pockets in opposing directions. The dog was delighted about our sudden change in circumstances, chasing me…

By Michael Hernández Today, the Island of Enchantment is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna: coquí frogs, hibiscus flowers, boas, flamboyant trees, Amazon parrots, and small Indian mongooses. Yes, mongooses. A lesser-known chapter of our history reveals that Puerto Ricans have long dealt with two major pests in the Caribbean: rats and…

by Nicole Bagley I set the table.You sing to what is eastof us, palms opento catch the music. Do youpray for the boy your fatherwas? You wear his temperon your sleeve, see histears where your shirt cuffs.I set the stove too high.You weave water with yourtongue then cool me down.We talk about weather andsleep, you…