Category Archives: National Issue 4 Spring 2026

I am the one holding the lit match.                  And I am the one burning. And                             I like that the fire is kind enough                   to leave me a body in another form. And I am the one pouring the                    water of my eyes to quench the fire.                             To soak the weightContinue reading “Self-immolation – Gospel Ozioma”

Cracked stone throbs like sorrowful hearts, Their stones ajar as an open maw. Midnight drips from the rafters, waxen, Air damp with musk. My skin appears bare— Absent of scratched metal, Chilled at the thought of missed battles, Ghosts appearing as brands. Their whispers no longer a shock, Inflicted with madness long Before my firstContinue reading “Pyre’s Night – Audrey Donnell”

Content Warning: This piece discusses homophobia, discrimination, and hate speech directed at LGBTQ+ people in Africa. It includes depictions of social and familial rejection, historical references to medical abuse, and job loss due to sexual orientation. It directly references suicide. Readers who may be affected by these themes are encouraged to engage with care. HomosexualityContinue reading “A Most Difficult Life: Ignorance Takes on a New Meaning in Africa – Tony Njoroge”

Picked up and taken to sea in her dying waves melting across rock and sand smashing its arms into boulders eager to bruise I’m sinking in the bathtub with melting ice above craters like whirlpools near my feet taking ships and whales sucking us all the below where infinity spheres bodies loop around rope tiedContinue reading “My Bathtub (the Pacific) – Breanna Jones”

On most weekday mornings in Tokyo I board the Keiyō Line with a small stack of vocabulary cards and the quiet determination of a man who has decided, midlife, to become illiterate again on purpose. I mouth syllables under my breath. A, i, u, e, o. Ka, ki, ku, ke, ko. The train rocks gentlyContinue reading “Shisa Kankō…Pointing, Calling – Zary Fekete”

The miracle did not shout my name. It came like a soft tap inside my chest: A delay! A missed step! A quiet feeling that said, Do not go yet. I once turned back for no reason. The bus I missed later broke. People called it luck! I stood shaking! Knowing something unseen, Had stoodContinue reading “Ofo – Anselm Eme”

Franz Kafka moved in with me today into my rented flat with a broken radiator hissing like a dying animal. His hair is greasy with the slime of the grave. His bald pate, coloured like a palm tree in the middle of an oasis of hair, shakes dandruff sequins from the desert mirage onto theContinue reading “An Ax For the Frozen Sea – Rebecca Gould”

If light upon this river would not dim If moonbeams lingered, stars would yet dwell near; If when our Summer sang her final hymn The shadows kept themselves far from this sphere; I would, in earnest, make attempts to stay. But Dusk climbs over every mountain’s peak It’s spectral glance turns living things away  AndContinue reading “October Sonnet – Elenya Hempstead”

 Delphinium and oleander       oleander spritz, my love—             as irreverent as I make it sound                 I did love you—I do love you                      you that were the exoskeleton             of my eye and my reverence      You that taught my consecration You that taught me to discern      star from fruitflesh, moon                    Continue reading “Oleanders Sing at Night – Anupama Choudhury”

It wasn’t every day one got invited to a dead man’s party. In fact, it happened at night.             Join us, the words echoed in Danya’s dream, a wispy hand beckoning her. Join us betwixt midnight and dawn… bring pizza…             She stepped over the faces of the damned to nab a flatbread with ghostContinue reading “Dead Man’s Party – Asher Frost”

Schroeder thinks he’s too good for the morning races. Instead of beating the pavement, he sits above the world: the flat-top of the American Bank building on the corner of 11th and Lehrer. The building was the peak of architecture when it was constructed around the time that Ellis Island was hemorrhaging the tired andContinue reading “Razing the Structure – Luccas Hart”

Poetry Abbey Bowman (she/her) is a feminist fiction writer, poet, playwright, and designer from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is a senior English major with a concentration in creative writing and a minor in theatre at Commonwealth University – Bloomsburg Campus: Pink Bismuth Anupama Choudhury (she/her) is a Creative Writing student pursuing poetry. She draws inspirationContinue reading “Contributors – Spring 2026”

I wonder if my grandfather ever tires of people whispering around him. If their hushed tones grate on his deafened ears, or if he has enjoyed living his life in silence. He must know by now, after all these years, that what is said under one’s breath is likely something he would not want toContinue reading “My Grandfather’s God – Kayleigh Papagelis”