We’ve got spice cookies on the hearth, apple cider in the cauldron, and cozy slippers on our hooves—and you know what that means. That’s right, gentle weirdos; it’s time to climb into your oversized yard skeleton’s lap with a checkered blanket and snuggle into that autumnal feeling as you turn the leaves of our 118th issue. Metaphorically speaking. Unless you printed it out, I guess. Or hand-painted all the words onto the backs of autumn leaves. Which is a pretty cool idea, honestly.

Anyway, ’tis the season for death verses, and we’ve got two real coffin-bangers for you: Jessica Lee McMillan’s “Funeral Flowers” and Chris Bullard’s “La Poesie Me Volera Ma Mort.” Looking for a story that gets kid logic and motives just right? Check out Ryan Warrick’s “Skulliosis.” And in a true spirit of something-for-everyone-ness, we are pleased to furthermore present Christopher Collingwood’s “Worlds Crossing the Palm of Reality,” a virtually poetic speculation; Greg Sendi’s “A Compass for Ariadne,” a poignant reimagining of a Classic myth; and Alexey Deyneko’s “Comma fortissimo,” a musical meditation on punctuation. 

It’s a bountiful harvest, friends. Reap it online or pick the .pdf. And be sure to roll your wheelbarrow up to the incredible cover art, Richard Duijnstee’s “Elephant Smoking.”