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  • Issue #27 Spring 2024
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      • Qurrat ul Ain Raza Abbas Spring 2025

Rachel Reynolds
​

I AM NOT A KNOWABLE THING
     after Joan Didion on Georgia O’Keeffe

but bottles tossed into the air and shot by Claudia.
no star memorialized in watercolor but still
a disappearance on the horizon, a slip from fingers
after being drained and dropped into a sack,
slung over a shoulder at dusk.

it is hardness I seek, the certain translucence
of glass so I remember what it is
to be sand. not unlovable but its
opposite: wholeness through opening,
the rough rip that says I am.

so I am seeking bullets,
I am looking to explode against the sky, refract
that last light of day as I tumble toward dirt, into
the earth that made me without judgment, back to her
wish that I become whatever it is I think I am.

WE ARE ON VACATION BUT THE BIRDS + OUR DEAD GRANDMOTHER KEEP SPEAKING TO HIM
​

the kitchen shears are still
in the drawer, tucked among spoons
and forks, the odd chopstick and
chipped quarter cup.             my throat

catches at the sight, body
freezes, dishtowel in hand.
alone in this small room, i feel the quiet all
around. the lake is glacial, the loons
lonely this evening, long gaps
between their calls.                upstairs
​
my mother's mattress is stuffed
with knives i secreted by the fistful
as she lured my brother to the porch,
offered him the sunset.        the shears

stare up at me, serrated and unafraid.
i wonder what else i've failed to notice.

ONE WAY OF LOOKING AT MY MOTHER
​
i want you to hear the quiet
of this house perched on the hill,
old and barn red and leaning.

hear the trees, the thin rustle
of dead leaves left on branches.
only the straggler birds remain,
only their occasional call.

can you see my mother?
she has her back to us, rust-colored
coat pulled tight around. her legs
are long, her throat slim, her eyes
glance over shoulder, squint
for the road. no firetruck yet.

she turns back.
she does not think
much has changed since she first saw
smoke slip from the wall
around the chimney.

hands to the plaster confirmed too much
heat so she listened up the stairs:
silence. in the kitchen,
she picked up the phone, dialed for help,
then quietly put on her shoes,
pulled a jacket from the hook,
went out the back door to wait.
​
years later, she explained
I was a difficult baby. it was hard
to get me to sleep.

--
​Rachel Fiske Reynolds teaches middle school. They are a Best of the Net nominee and their work has appeared with Red Rock Review, Liminalities, Faultline, Duende, the Nervous Breakdown, VICE, and more. 

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  • Issue #27 Spring 2024
    • Issue #27 Art Spring 2024 >
      • Kristina Erny Spring 2024
      • Luiza Maia Spring 2024
      • Christy Lee Rogers Spring 2024
      • Erika Lynet Salvador Spring 2024
      • Marsha Solomon Spring 2024
    • Issue #27 Poetry Spring 2024 >
      • Terry Belew Spring 2024
      • Dustin Brookshire​ & Diamond Forde Spring 2024 Spring 2024
      • Dustin Brookshire​ & Caridad Moro-Gronlier Spring 2024 Spring 2024
      • Charlie Coleman Spring 2024
      • Isabelle Doyle Spring 2024
      • Reyzl Grace Spring 2024
      • Kelly Gray Spring 2024
      • Meredith Herndon Spring 2024
      • Mina Khan Spring 2024
      • Anoushka Kumar Spring 2024
      • Cate Latimer Spring 2024
      • BEE LB Spring 2024
      • Grace Marie Liu​ Spring 2024
      • Sarah Mills Spring 2024
      • Faisal Mohyuddin 2024
      • Marcus Myers Spring 2024
      • Mike Puican Spring 2024
      • Sarah Sorensen Spring 2024
      • Lynne Thompson Spring 2024
      • Natalie Tombasco Spring 2024
      • Alexandra van de Kamp Spring 2024
      • Donna Vorreyer Spring 2024
    • Fiction #27 Spring 2024 >
      • Bryan Betancur Spring 2024
      • Karen George Spring 2024
      • Raja'a Khalid Spring 2024
      • Riley Manning Spring 2024
      • Adina Polatsek Spring 2024
      • Beth Sherman Spring 2024
    • Nonfiction #27 Spring 2024 >
      • Liza Olson Spring 2024
  • Issue #28 Fall 2024
    • Issue #28 Art Fall 2024 >
      • Eric Calloway Fall 2024
      • Matthew Fertel Fall 2024
      • JooLee Kang Fall 2024
      • Jian Kim Fall 2024
      • Robb Kunz Fall 2024
      • Sean Layh Fall 2024
    • Issue #28 Poetry Fall 2024 >
      • Jodi Balas Fall 2024
      • Clayre Benzadón Fall 2024
      • Catherine Broadwall Fall 2024
      • Sara Burge Fall 2024
      • Judith Chalmer Fall 2024
      • Stephanie Choi Fall 2024
      • Sarah Jack Fall 2024
      • Jen Karetnick Fall 2024
      • Ae Hee Lee Fall 2024
      • Svetlana Litvinchuk Fall 2024
      • Mary Lou Buschi Fall 2024
      • Angie Macri Fall 2024
      • Gary McDowell Fall 2024
      • Sam Moe Fall 2024
      • Camille Newsom Fall 2024
      • Elizabeth O'Connell- Thompson Fall 2024
      • Olatunde Osinaike Fall 2024
      • Jessica Pierce Fall 2024
      • Diane Raptosh Fall 2024
      • Isaac Richards Fall 2024
      • Robyn Schelenz Fall 2024
      • Christopher Shipman Fall 2024
      • Alex Tretbar Fall 2024
      • Ruth Williams Fall 2024
      • Shannon K. Winston Fall 2024
      • Wendy Wisner Fall 2024
      • Anne Gerard Fall 2024
    • Issue #28 Fiction Fall 2024 >
      • J​oe Baumann Fall 2024
      • ​Morganne Howell Fall 2024
      • Matt Paczkowski Fall 2024
      • Ryan Peed Fall 2024
      • Gabriella Pitts Fall 2024
      • James Sullivan Fall 2024
  • Issue #29 Spring 2025
    • Issue #29 Art Spring 2025 >
      • Irina Greciuhina Spring 2025
      • Jesse Howard Spring 2025
      • Paul Simmons Spring 2025
      • Marsha Solomon Spring 2025
      • Elzbieta Zdunek Spring 2025
      • Na Yoon Amelia Cha-Ryu Spring 2025
    • Issue #29 Poetry Spring 2025 >
      • Deborah Bacharach Spring 2025
      • Diego Báez Spring 2025
      • Jaswinder Bolina Spring 2025
      • ​Ash Bowen Spring 2025
      • Christian J. Collier Spring 2025
      • ​Shou Jie Eng Spring 2025
      • Sara Fitzpatrick Spring 2025
      • Matthew Gilbert Spring 2025
      • Tammy C. Greenwood Spring 2025
      • Alejandra Hernández ​Spring 2025
      • Ben Kline ​Spring 2025
      • ​David Moolten Spring 2025
      • ​Tamer Mostafa Spring 2025
      • ​Rongfei Mu Spring 2025
      • Cynthia Neely Spring 2025
      • Pablo Otavalo Spring 2025
      • ​Bleah Patterson Spring 2025
      • ​M.A. Scott Spring 2025
      • ​Liam Strong ​ Spring 2025
      • Alexandra van de Kamp Spring 2025
      • ​Cassandra Whitaker Spring 2025
      • Angelique Zobitz Spring 2025
    • Issue #29 Fiction Spring 2025 >
      • Vanessa Blakeslee Spring 2025
      • K. J. Coyle Spring 2025
      • Meredith MacLeod Davidson Spring 2025
      • Jessica Mosher Spring 2025
    • Issue #29 Nonfiction Spring 2025 >
      • JM Huscher Spring 2025
      • Qurrat ul Ain Raza Abbas Spring 2025