by Aleece Bustamante | Sep 7, 2021 | Issue #2, Issues
Heartstring (Merriam Webster)noun nheart· string | \ ˈhärt-ˌstriŋ \ Definition of heartstring1: obsolete: a nerve once believed to sustain the heart2: the deepest emotions or affections —usually used in plural That movie really pulls at your heartstrings. If your...
by Aleece Bustamante | Sep 7, 2021 | Issue #2, Issues
Praying at the altar of mowed lawnsand bursting hydrangeas, worshippingthe rumble of engines turning over, alongthe narrow row of our dead end street,I drink coffee in the matriarch neighbor’s driveway,her dogs let out like dandelion seeds.My son will be late to learn...
by Aleece Bustamante | Sep 7, 2021 | Issue #2, Issues
Amid parallel running tracksin the north of England,we workers saw their endingas appurtenances in railway yards.I asked the most forthright,was this a truth then?His answer “I don’t know, Mate.”And I loved him for it. Colin James has a couple of...
by Aleece Bustamante | Sep 7, 2021 | Issue #2, Issues
with her wry grin—a smile that curled the lips even as the rest...
by Aleece Bustamante | Sep 7, 2021 | Issue #2, Issues
I hold a catastrophe in my hands.I make a tight cup to stop it struggling out.It builds panic for an army marching,frightened boys fake bravery,their tears parachuting to death.Missiles of burning birthday balloonscelebrate this cult of our making,rivers of blood...
by Aleece Bustamante | Sep 7, 2021 | Issue #2, Issues
the air was still. On his knees,arms grimy up to the elbows,the old man squinted to surveyuntouched terrain. His steady handwiped off a trickle of sweat, and I watchedas he cut inch-thick tubes of copperfor another void-filling project. Hundredsof tiny, bleached...
