ISSUE 23.2 • Fall/Winter 2025
About our cover image: “MissFire” by Sui Jenneris
Sui Jenneris is an artist, mother, and counselor. Her art is marked by striking visuals and joyful compositions, reflects her unique upbringing and creative journey. Raised in Kingston, NY, by a tattoo artist parent, she was immersed in punk rock culture and imaginative thinking from an early age. This background influenced her style and outlook, bringing boldness and originality to her work. She recently celebrated her first solo exhibition, a milestone in her flourishing career.
From the artist: These collages and illustrative pieces are a reflection on nostalgia from childhood and also refer to how they can be a reflection in our emotions.
Letter from the Editor
The process of putting this issue together became a pet project for my anxiety, but also felt deeply connected to the collective worry we are all feeling in the wake of events that feel very much outside of our control.
I’ve been fascinated with the idea of perception for a very long time. I am interested in the distorted ways that we perceive self, and the affected ways we understand others. This idea is mirrored throughout the issue. Whether it be Anna Smetanenko’s “After the Book” which investigates how an identity is altered and shaped by the works with which it partakes, or Hallie Fogarty’s “Mirror” in which facial features are and are not….
Wendy BooydeGraaff
Lemonland
Soramimi Hanarejima
With Nothing to Bring Us Together
L Mari Harris
We Love Harder When We’re Invested in the Story
Elizabeth Rosen
When Not Knowing Is More Important than Wanting to Know
Karen Regen Tuero
An Unknown Road
Francis Walsh
Alan, Beta Tester
Michele Zimmerman
How to Turn Your Sister-in-Law into a Frog According to the Manager of Joann Fabric and Crafts, Who Runs a Coven on the Side
Poetry
Brittany Atkinson
Afterword
Joselyn Busato
i couldn’t find the words to describe you
Sam Campbell
Echoed
Rosa Crepax
Banqueting
Lindsay D’Andrea
Attraversamento
Clare Flanagan
isolation sonnet #4
isolation sonnet #2
Laura Foley
Talking about Art at the Guggenheim in Bilbao
Ella Harrigan
Rubin’s Vase
I TELL YOU I AM MORE UNHAPPY THAN I AM
Sierra Hixon
Girl(s) With the Nervous System of a Prey Animal; On Kindness
Stefanie Kirby
Tableau with Three Daughters
Susan L. Leary
Anatomical Mouth
Angie Macri
Taproot
Sean Madden
89a
Allie Stokes
If they chop open my body
Creative Nonfiction
Artwork
Vivian Calderon Bogoslavsky
Euforia abstracta en la ciudad invisible
Anna Smetanenko
After the Book
Juanita Holmes
Triad Red Contrast: Postpartum
Rosemary Kimble
In Reverence of the Sacred
David Avila
Torn Sky
Pia Quintano
Peace
Ellen June Wright
Watercolor: #5218
Angelica Esquivel
Growing toward the light
Vivian Calderon Bogoslavsky
Euforia abstracta en la ciudad invisible
Shae Meyer
Moments_of_the_Particle_
Hallie Fogarty
Lesson
Milton J. Kessler Memorial Prize in Poetry
Finalists
Ali Beheler
like Orpheus led you / like Orpheus turned on you
John Blair
Echidna in the Cave of Longing
Isra Cheema
My Mother-in-Law’s Recipe for Chicken Curry
Winner
Ali Beheler
Self-portrait, or, what do you call the part of me that is
Masthead
Editor in Chief: Alycia Calvert
Managing Editor: Shannon Hearn
Fiction Co-Editor: Sam Corradetti
Fiction Co-Editor: Jesse Gilleland
Poetry Co-Editor: Ella Flores
Poetry Co-Editor: Jordan Franklin
CNF Co-Editor: Lena Gemmer
CNF Co-Editor: Suzanne Richardson
Social Media Manager: Lisa Compo
… and we appreciate the love and care put into this issue by all our editors, but will especially miss the efforts of our incredible fiction editors, Sam Corradetti and Jesse Gilleland as they focus on finishing exams and dissertations. We continue cheering them on.