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Issue No. 25: Borders

Spring/Summer 2020

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Traveling and leaving become interchangeable in Jacob Shores-Argüello's "Diptych: Crossing Over." Attempting to kill for love results in delicious soup in Unica Zürn's "My Mortal Enemy." In Esther Lin's "Disappearing Act," a girl plans an escape route lit by taillights.

Unlocked Pieces

Features
Kastro
Serkan Görkemli
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25
Kastro
Serkan Görkemli
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25

“I tried putting myself in Mert’s shoes—I was in his underwear after all—and wondered at how easily he had offered me something so intimate. Realizing that all my efforts had been so transparent, that I had no protective cover whatsoever, was like being shoved into cold water again and again.”

Serkan Görkemli
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25
You’re Far Away From Your Country Where I Am
Gökçenur Ç. (Tr. Robyn Marsack)
Poetry, Translation, Issue 25
You’re Far Away From Your Country Where I Am
Gökçenur Ç. (Tr. Robyn Marsack)
Poetry, Translation, Issue 25

You have seen this play a thousand times,
but as you are about to wake up
for the first time you will notice a telegram
on the gramophone:

Gökçenur Ç. (Tr. Robyn Marsack)
Poetry, Translation, Issue 25
The Midwife Dream
Alicia Ostriker
Poetry, Issue 25
The Midwife Dream
Alicia Ostriker
Poetry, Issue 25

pulled gently
but the scalp was smooth and cleft
strange I thought but it will be ok

Alicia Ostriker
Poetry, Issue 25
She Needs To Know My Skin Isn’t Whitening But My Hair Is
Marcy Rae Henry
Poetry, Issue 25
She Needs To Know My Skin Isn’t Whitening But My Hair Is
Marcy Rae Henry
Poetry, Issue 25

While the wax is drying I write different endings to our story
They always include the ceremony she suggested
where we lick bee syrup off each other’s fingers

Marcy Rae Henry
Poetry, Issue 25
Streets
Xoşman Qado (Tr. Zêdan Xelef & David Shook)
Translation, Poetry, Issue 25
Streets
Xoşman Qado (Tr. Zêdan Xelef & David Shook)
Translation, Poetry, Issue 25

No one trusts the city streets any longer, and the streets trust no one either. The buildings, too, tip their gutters to pour their algae onto mute life.

Xoşman Qado (Tr. Zêdan Xelef & David Shook)
Translation, Poetry, Issue 25
Out on the Lake
Steve Chang
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25
Out on the Lake
Steve Chang
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25

I’ve figured out other things too, things that would be obvious to anyone but me, like how those friends weren’t really my friends. They were Buddy’s. And going our own ways would feel like nothing.

Steve Chang
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25
“dramaturgy of the world” & “portuguese lesson”
Francisco Mallmann (Tr. Robert Smith)
Translation, Poetry, Issue 25
“dramaturgy of the world” & “portuguese lesson”
Francisco Mallmann (Tr. Robert Smith)
Translation, Poetry, Issue 25

so much depends on how many

steps you are able to take

after crossing

imaginary lines

Francisco Mallmann (Tr. Robert Smith)
Translation, Poetry, Issue 25
The Age of Love
Mary South
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25
The Age of Love
Mary South
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25

Beneath her floral shampoo, I swore I could detect it: the tinny scent of recycled air. It gave me a thrill, almost arousal, from pondering whether she noticed something similar in me, that elephant odor of aged skin.

Mary South
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25
Mud Blood
sara joy márquez
Poetry, Issue 25
Mud Blood
sara joy márquez
Poetry, Issue 25

You can’t place me. I could be any
thing in the summer
when my tan has vacationing ladies
in Williamsburg touching my arms, wet gaze on my frizz—​
can you believe I’m from where you are, lady?

sara joy márquez
Poetry, Issue 25
Domestic Animals
Vida James
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25
Domestic Animals
Vida James
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25

You don’t know what else to say, so you ask about simple things, like what her favorite commissary snacks are, and if you can send coloring books through the corrections postal service.

Vida James
Fiction, Short Fiction, Issue 25
Workshop: Borders
Omar Sakr
Poetry, Issue 25
Workshop: Borders
Omar Sakr
Poetry, Issue 25

"I fear the power of the image, how it changes nothing / except myself, how it is never just an image, how the boy lives / now under my bitten fingernails how

Omar Sakr
Poetry, Issue 25

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Table of Contents

* Breakout Prize winner

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