I drove to west virginia when the weather was warm | Matthew Dettmer

"josh is telling a story about wearing night vision goggles in afghanistan and 'I’m proud to be an american' is playing for the second time maybe the third time on the speakers in the bar..."

Septimus | Lucie Bonvalet

"Septimus had always had a fondness for cephalopods. The poetry of suction cups, the grace of tentacles, the strangeness of their beaks, the mysterious flexibility of their heads..."

Bodies in the Storm | Lerato Ramodike

"Abdullah thinks of the olive tree growing in the backyard that he used to have. How, a week after the airstrike, his wife had gone back to search for an olive to plant. She found that the entire tree had burned down. She wept as though she had lost a son..."

Joy | Samantha Fain

"a limbless thing, / a flushed pink tube / that bristles & grows / symmetrical, / that wiggles rings / around your heart / & drums around, / but dim. & in the rain / joy arrives—"

Selected Poems | Daneen Bergland

"Let this make us safe / to kiss and wake in the bright light / of science. Let us place too much / stock in our own resilience. / Let us experiment. Let us embrace / and make pets of our differences..."

The Memory Game | Franki Haber

"The Rules of the Game: If you follow these rules, no harm can come to you. It is important to remember these rules. This game relies on your memory. How much can you remember?"