Category: The Last Word

Poetry: “is it god inside you?” by Charlie Waddle

On election night, it is latewhen the gathering, that is no longer a party,ends. The walk home becomes mostly silent.November night has no concern for union’s fractured stateit waits for morning, washes light awayFails to consider that darkness cannot be safe You are not safetelevision warns. The ocean is violent, even if its fury arrives…
Poetry: Ela Thompson’s “The Labyrinth”

My grandmother’s house was painted a dark, graying eggshell blueand was very near the southern border of the Catskill Mountains.After the death of my grandfather she sold the house, the barn, the manyacres of field and forest. No one was surprised.Death contaminates the heavy rivers of our bodiesand we must move…
Essay: “Feelings on Breastfeeding in the Age of Terror” by Lee Matalone

“For those who are against breastfeeding in public the issue is often not about themselves, but in protection.”—“The Breastfeeding in Public Debate,” published on a site focused on women’s health I tell myself, do not trip over that bag on wheels, or that bag on wheels, the one overflowing with bananas and avocados and…
Two Poems & Advertisement by Jackie Craven

*Ed.’s Note: click image to view larger size. Edited version of a public domain advertisement The circus has a new address~Ringling Bros. to close ‘greatest show’… The elephants left long ago—Linked snout to tail, theyplodded over to the Capitol dome and now themonkeys follow, swinging from legislative branches.Rounding the beltway, bears on unicycles lead a…
Poetry: “say something” by Ananda Lima

for your safety ifyou see somethingsay a package apurse say somethingthat should not bethere unattended saysomething laughingas they say somethingyou don’t understandsay somethingscribbling somethingyou don’t understandsay something youdon’t understand saysomething thatshould not besomething for yoursafety say somethingceasing to besomething for yoursafety if you seesomething thatshould not be Ananda Lima’s work has appeared in The American Poetry…
Two Poems by Greg Allendorf

Psalm In pieces, the heart comprises only a pale sketch. I have been stitching. I have found the room in the heart where no wind stands. I have looked at the mirror in that room and I have wept at the blank peace in my own eyes. Your mistake is in trusting I hate you.…
Poetry: Candice Wuehle’s “As thyself”

I try not to hateThine neighborNeighbor as hangingFlag the neighbor hasHung & hung myHome with pall, civilMonster unmakes my shareIn the year the yardRends and tears, tearsBlemish the arrivals Is thisPlanet under a grey auspice? amNot alien our neighbor ? I try notTo hate thine neighbor sickEning the yard as thoughEarth an unsoundLadder, the base…
Fiction: Stephen Langlois’ “New White House Submission Guidelines”

*Ed.’s Note: click image to view larger size. Stephen Langlois is a writer of the fantastic and absurd. His work has appeared in Glimmer Train, The Portland Review, 3AM Magazine, Maudlin House, Monkeybicycle, matchbook, Split Lip Magazine, and Necessary Fiction, among others. He is a recipient of The Center for Fiction’s NYC Emerging Writers Fellowship as well as…
Three Poems by Elizabeth Onusko

Call to Action Though its primary function is withstanding a sustained assault, a castle also serves as the dominant symbol in most state-sanctioned mythologies. Pay attention, pay attention. If we’re all in this together, why must I prioritize minor celebrities in my daily prayer regimen. When the cable car I’m riding gets stuck above a…