"My Last Memory of My Grandmother" by Adelaide Gifford
My uncle says the sea erodes.
Salt, surf, sand,
and wind.
And I remember
six years old,
clinging to my grandmother’s hand,
fearing that
I’d fly away.
I remember
sea spitting, burning sparks of sand on little legs,
fish flailing,
flung from homes beneath the water,
silver bodies spinning in air they
cannot breathe.
I remember shrieking, my own
shrieking. Wet suction
of a thin body, clinging
to my leg, fearing
flying. I remember
our wild eyes,
my small hand slapping,
my small fish slipping
off the skin of my leg
into the air, into
the wind,
ripped away.
Adelaide Gifford is a recent graduate of Hamilton College in New York, where she majored in Creative Writing and double-minored in Hispanic Studies and Environmental Studies. Her favorite genre to write is a mixture of nature writing and fantasy, with a bit of magical realism thrown in, and her favorite authors include Richard Powers, Harper Lee, and Billy Collins. She has previously published a short story, “Bullfight,” in Sucarnochee Review, and poems in Applause Literary Magazine and Furrow Literary Magazine, among others. When she’s not writing, she enjoys hanging out with her dog and exploring the natural world. Instagram @adelaideluciagifford.
"Moonshot" by Scott Burwash
Two seasons have passed since I last saw you,
alone in the fen with your antlers and bare expressions.
They tell me that I will get better in time,
but I spend most days folding paper cranes to no end.
The thing I never said to you lives under my tongue,
pregnant with guilt and hoping for absolution.
If you flew to my open window tonight
I would ask you to stay with me until the rain comes back.
Do you still have the pressed flowers that my grandpa
gave you or did they spill onto the floor like everything else?
Covering my eyes now.
Waiting for everything to still.
Scott Burwash (he/him) is a writer of poetry and prose with previous work appearing in Apeiron Review, Eclectica Magazine, and Dark Harbor Magazine. You can find him on Instagram and Bluesky (@scottburwash).
Two Poems by Will Neuenfeldt
Content warning: suicide and death
“Relocation”
I prefer to say
he took his own life.
To where exactly?
I like to think either
Fourth of July weekend
on Gull Lake or
the bachelor party trip
to Denver where
he enjoys restaurants
we didn’t have time for
and hikes those
Rainbow Mountains
we admired
yet never had time to climb.
Better yet,
he moved there for work,
growing old with kids
alongside the Rockies.
He would come back
on Christmas but only
to visit family because
he should be with them,
not alone in a pine box.
“St. Thomas on the Pines Cemetery”
I walk around the locked gate onto wet grass
in search of his face on headstones,
following bumblebees to fresh bouquets
but even they don’t have his name.
I text friends for directions, only mosquitos buzz by,
as gnats dance in light between oak trees
and ants read brass plates one letter at a time.
Before any local calls me out for trespassing,
I pace back to the lone car in the parking lot
with tennis shoe prints not far behind,
scratching red notifications I can’t answer back.
Will Neuenfeldt studied English at Gustavus Adolphus College and his poems are published in Capsule Stories, Months to Years, and Red Flag Poetry. He lives in Cottage Grove, MN, home of the dude who played Steven Stifler in those American Pie movies and a house Teddy Roosevelt slept in.
"Death" by Mary Alice Holmes
I practice dying when I can
I let myself die a bit when a show ends
I've let food die on the counter
I've let whole days die around me while I laid in bed
I let my potted plants die
When my twin died,
I let my plans for the future die with her
I've let all the leaves on trees die
In fact
In the winter
I've watched everything die
And done nothing
Mary Alice Holmes was born and raised in Columbus Ohio. She attended The Ohio State University where she studied philosophy. She moved to Madison Wisconsin to pursue a career in hospital IT. She writes poetry primarily on the topics of grief, death, mental health, and the natural world. In addition to poetry, she does a variety of art including glass mosaics and doodling mini-comics. She lives with her partner Alex and their dog Winnie.