Glowing and radiant, Flaming and shining Bright as pure essence. Day-blind stars, Outshone by sunlight, await Greater glory in night’s shade. Hidden by contamination As fear our dreams from burning, Seen clearly from the heights With troubles far below. The unfathomable depths Of a lover’s eye, Magnified across the skies and spread Like a painted…

The Aims Review Literary/Arts Award Winner   I’m not sure if I believe in ghosts or monsters or any sort of God or gods. But I do believe in odd spaces, little moments and places where you feel something strange. They can be found anywhere and be any size.   There’s a space in my…

Weaknesses made bare Are hard to face, Raw wounds sting In open air. Highest need, Greatest denial, Expected, desired, But dangerous. Challenging within, A paradox of interests. Wholeness tainted by lies Cannot be complete. Bio: I love music, being outdoors, and spending time with family and friends. I am a concurrent enrollment student taking classes…

I sank into a wooden coffee shop chair going soft with age. The music was a soft hum that blended into the sounds of pencil tapping, laughing friends, and exhausted concentration. The bitter taste of hot coffee was a welcomed gift to my senses. I’d hoped, incorrectly, that coffee would clear my mind. The trip…

Just another day in the office and it is the same routine: open the vault, get the stations ready for the tellers, open the doors and get ready to greet the customers. Suzanne has worked as the bank manager for 15 years and nothing exciting had happened, until today.   Suzanne kept mostly to herself…

dredge it was the witches did it. newtless, even. betwixt early thaw and late freeze they conjured a blizzard, roiled the conifers, boiled the maple pitch down to base then spilled their cauldron across the backyard. a pond swelled. pine-needle stew bubbled from hollows as All swallowed All. rust, bud, bolt, root, bramble, suckle, stamen,…

Colors are different, beautiful and longing. Dark and stormy. How do you see colors? With the wind in the morning? With the rain to wash away yesterday’s sorrows? Or, as the color of a rainbow after a storm? Colors, are different for me. Red for the blood that runs through my veins keeping me alive….

Growing beauty In a bed of Friend and foe You will become Magnificent Though not yet Now you are no Different from Your neighbor One day you’ll have Bright petals but Not right now Now you are a Green stem waiting For beauty

“I just talked to a news reporter. I’m going to be famous.” Guy bounced on his toes and smiled proudly at his coworker. She looked back at him with a mostly understanding smile and replied slowly, “You is famous?” “Yep, I’m going to be famous. The newspaper wants to write an article about me.” “Why…

Getting out of bed had become easier for me. It used to be impossible for me to get out from under the covers. I put a dozen alarm clocks on the other side of the room. When all of them blared at once, it forced me to get out and shut them all off. Even…

The last judgement is one of my own construction With futile consolation I reach a vain junction This endeavor seemed to consume me in a desperate fervor And left me weakened in the blue glow of machine-light It’s a splintered road from here on out I expected too little to be so full of doubt…

Orange yellow red leaves confused on branches. Sleet snow / almost rain surprises inhabitants. Is it winter or autumn? Bio: Gail Kuroda works in the Libraries of UNC and the High Plains Library District. She likes to take writing courses to exercise the creative part of her brain. Gail considers herself more of an essayist…

Man be blessed and drones be praised, We give our drives to thee. Command us not to overclock, And reformat us in your image. Thank you for code-to-text, And blessed be text-to-speech. Program us to better serve, And please renew our warranty. We are indebted, yet still we ask, In proper, British tones: Why must…

The death of my resolve comes swift Like the hand of God, the war began to shift With a bullet in the head of hesitation Into the dark, a sublime declaration Thrust to cold oceans, a vast separation I mirrored your defeat in so many ways But never found value in neither damning nor praise…

One Alice was a sickly child. By the time she was diagnosed with Astrocytoma at eight years old, she was in and out of St. Jude Children’s Hospital so often that her parents had given up on public school. Soon after her diagnosis, Alice underwent surgery. The surgery was a success, and she was brought…

Be sure to leave without a coat. Walking in the sleet looks Like a madman against winter’s wrath. If the coat is brought, The drivers see A man too sane to be anything– Other than too poor to drive.

Sometimes, when I’m listening to a peppy song or watching a funny video, I think of you. On days when I’m feeling down, I long to turn to you. When I’m with my friends, you often are a topic that comes up in conversation. I still look at all of the drawings and drafts I…

There are so many things that could go wrong in space. The engineers could have forgotten a part to the ship, and it could spontaneously combust. We could ration our food incorrectly and starve. We could get sick and have all of the wrong medications to treat it. We could be hit by an asteroid…

“You have been a naughty little girl,” Maddox said as he pulled up a chair and spun it around to lean his torso against the chair back when he sat down. “You have been digging around and sticking your nose into places it shouldn’t be.” “Can’t be helped,” I replied, folding my arms and crossing…

Lisbet steps out of the lodge and moves into the murky pre-dawn morning, breathing mouthfuls of dust floating in the air. She turns to her sister, Greta, following behind, who appears to be encompassed in a filmy rust-colored shroud. The land is doused in red as the ubiquitous dirt makes it seem as if one…

Head bowed, watching her feet moving towards an unavoidable encounter. Jo made her way cautiously down the isolated stretch of track.  The promise of revenge soured Jo’s stomach, yet resolutely she placed one foot in front of the next. Creeping ever closer to the inevitable. The note slipped under the door of her musty 3rd…

The woods of Westin Hallow were always a foreboding place. The false night created by hundreds of pine skyrocketing above the ground often created a creepy feeling. At times, the woods were so dense that there was little noise to hear but for the echoing beat of one’s heart. It was a wonder that meek…