Grace, Azzam Alkadhi
“I remember wet snogs / And my tongue scraping against braces. / I remember holding hands / Outside KFC on Gloucester Road.”

Genesis 1 Chapter 1 H1C1, Betsy Streeter
“One time, there was no time, because there was no space. God needed more room to breathe and so God stretched out a little. Stuff went flying everywhere and it was hilarious because everything was crashing into everything else and making big and ridiculous noises.”

haiku, John Repp
“thick heat— / oak branch clatters down—”

On the Job at IBIS, Merri Andrew
“When recruiting, the first thing Tricia looked at was the candidate’s orientation to Mess. She ruled out those who had too much of a crusading spirit, those who seemed to think Mess was evil. Of course, controlling Mess was vital for survival, but extreme thinking was contrary to the spirit and function of In Balance Inoculation Service (IBIS).”

Along the Banks of the Charles River, Toni Artuso
“I tread gingerly, crunching on mud / made suddenly solid / by capricious Arctic blasts”

Retroscopy, Rob Tyler
“The night Godzilla blew through town, Jake fought claustrophobia with a hundred other people in a bomb shelter beneath the basement of their cold-war-era apartment building. The ventilation was bad and the only light came from a string of bare bulbs hanging from the vaulted concrete ceiling.”

Cover art: Endless Night Sky, Samuel Snoek-Brown