A HEART GUARDED BY WEEDS BY JENNIFER HILTEBEITEL Trigger Warning: This story alludes to sexual assault. At 17, I found my birth parents and was so hopeful that the fantasy stories I had created in my daydreams had come true: My birth parents had not abandoned me and had been searching for me my whole life. They were happily married, unlike my adoptive parents, but their lives were not yet complete, as
One Branch of Our Ancestral Vine BY Marisol Kassis My body has known the loss of identity But my mouth couldn’t speak it— my language was empty. My loss was known in the way I longed…
Dispatches from the Matrix By Julian Washio-Collette LISTEN TO THE AUTHOR READING: “Why am I here?” “Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the Matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden assiduously
TRUTH IN LYRICS BY Danielle Orr Recording songs onto cassette tape off the radio was a favorite hobby of mine during my adolescence. Poised and focused, ready to pounce like an animal waiting for its prey, I waited
HOLDING ME BY a.p. It’s past 11 pm. After my bedtime. I’m lying in bed. A wave of sadness tenderly washes over me. I follow it from the crown of my head to the tips of my toes. My eyes are closed. My cheeks are wet. I’m crying. Silently. The tears flow so naturally, effortlessly. I almost didn’t notice them at first. They’re warm though. I understand that they’re here to offer comfort. I feel
THE BARBECUE BY Jessie Hunter “Hello!!! Who wants to bring what for our BBQ on Sunday?” my sister prompted in our sibling group chat. My parents were out of town and our first order of business had been to call our brother and require his presence at a barbecue at Mom and Dad’s. It was the perfect location for all three of us, and a carefree way to enjoy our childhood home together. We all agreed to our parts: burger fixings
ARISTEO’S POCKET BY CARRIE ANNE TOCCI Aristeo folds light-filled particles like dough until a perfect slot machine takes shape. Smirking, he pulls an imagined token from a pretend pocket. Nearby birds tweet casino noises. Others dip their beaks into clouds, drawing a mix of cherries and lucky 7s or three cherries to snap a win for Aristeo. “I shoulda stopped taking insulin sooner,” he chuckles, creating a ray
THE CHANGE I NEED By Susan Lynch “We don’t have to wait for the world to change for us.” —Pam Cordano “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you’ll find you get what you need.” —The Rolling Stones I deeply wanted my reunion to be something that it has not been. I needed my reunion to be something that it has not been—and I fought that reunion
DEAR MUCHYOUNGER ME By Meredith Seung Mee Buse “You’ll face this in your life someday,” Jacqueline Woodson writes in Brown Girl Dreaming. “A moment when you walk into a room and / no one there is like you.” She doesn’t know this is your reality in every room: for school, for play, even when you sleep. “It’ll be scary sometimes,” she continues. And for you, it is. But you live there, so you don’t recognize