March 2024 | Issue #34
The world spins. We stumble on. It is enough. —Colum McCann
How to Embellish an Upper Case V and Not Ruin It | Victoria Melekian
How to Embellish an Upper Case V and Not Ruin It
to the cradled
dot of the V, a quick leap
back up to the roof,
one controlled motion. Repeat till
you’ve got it,
just like cutting paper dolls.
Some basics: V is violet,
never purple. Add green leaves (a few,
not a fairy tale
Beginning with a Line from Roethke | Kathleen McGookey
Beginning with a Line from Roethke
I, too, have known the inexorable sadness of pencils, the Dixon number 2’s my sister-in-law mailed after Van died, twelve boxes, so old their erasers left fleshy smears instead of rubbing out my mistakes. What happened to his greenhouse, bought in Denmark? To his hoses and ropes and terra cotta pots stained white with minerals? His tulip bulbs, seed catalogs, broken Underwood typewriter? He had been dying so slowly it seemed just like living.
And the Point Is to Live Everything | Claire Scott
And the Point Is to Live Everything
Days slipper away, sliding out from
under us
almost soundlessly, like falling snow
how can today be Sunday,
the thick blue-sleeved
New York Times thumped
on our driveway
how can it be April when we just
put Christmas in cardboard boxes
how can I no longer reach the top shelf
where I keep my mother’s favorite
crystal
and why does time flow one way