Vivian Wagner Small Talk “It snowed earlier,” I say to my neighbor, and he nods, says, “Yeah, I saw that,” as we both look up at the grey sky, our dogs straining on leashes toward spring. Vivian Wagner lives in New Concord, Ohio, where she’s an associate professor of English at Muskingum University.
Read More3 poems for a new year Anastasia Vassos Gratitude for a Hell of a Year Thanks a lot, 2018, for the kick in the teeth for the lapse in my memory, and for the last day in the life of my mother, for the end of my consciousness as I presently know it, for the […]
Read MoreAlan Toltzis (series) Goldfish They grew waddling fat— orange and white globes gliding through green waters to feast on insects and algae, flakes and pellets tossed into the pond, their own eggs and fry. Beggars Habit taught them greed gulping at food’s satisfying promise whenever I neared sending shadows across the surface that drew their […]
Read More5 of 5 in a series Alan Toltzis Deep Winter Locked below a thickening block of ice, the fish slowed too, drifting downward to wait, weightless in watery space, amid cold blankets of sludge and debris, the rotten remnants of their waste, time rotating forward all around them. Alan Toltzis (alantoltzis.com), the author of 49 […]
Read More4 of 5 in a series Alan Toltzis 63.8 Degrees North Earth angled into its inhospitable orbit tilting farther from the sun the water stiffened as its molecules expanded, aligned, slowed, crystallizing from the rocky edged shore inward towards its core, zeroing past zero. Alan Toltzis (alantoltzis.com), the author of 49 Aspects of Human Emotions […]
Read More3 of 5 in a series Alan Toltzis Binge Where I saw thin and yellowing locust leaves skittering through air like celebration, they saw something that might be gorged upon— swallow, spit, swallow again. Alan Toltzis (alantoltzis.com), the author of 49 Aspects of Human Emotions and The Last Commandment, had a lovely goldfish pond once […]
Read More2 of 5 in a series Alan Toltzis Beggars Habit taught them greed gulping at food’s satisfying promise whenever I neared sending shadows across the surface that drew their pleading lips into the alien air asking more, more, more. Alan Toltzis (alantoltzis.com), the author of 49 Aspects of Human Emotions and The Last Commandment, had […]
Read More1 of 5 in a series Alan Toltzis Goldfish They grew waddling fat— orange and white globes gliding through green waters to feast on insects and algae, flakes and pellets tossed into the pond, their own eggs and fry. Alan Toltzis (alantoltzis.com), the author of 49 Aspects of Human Emotions and The Last Commandment, had […]
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