20250219

Prepare for Descent

by Howie Good

I had stopped taking my pills. Liars and cheaters were still firmly in charge, though, and imposed disasters on the rest of us. Night was dark; day was darker. The people around me raged, wept, cackled insanely. I felt the surgical scar across my back wriggle like a worm. Think about that when it’s late, and your doors are locked, and only ghosts are watching.

6S

Howie Good is a professor emeritus at SUNY New Paltz whose newest poetry book, The Dark, is available from Sacred Parasite, which will also publish his book, Akimbo, in 2025.

20250218

Pedro Paramo

by Patrick Parks

The only book he reads is Pedro Paramo. Whenever he finishes it, he returns it to its familiar place on his bookshelf. The next day, looking for something to read, he sees Pedro Paramo and takes it down. He thinks he’s read it before. He thinks it is about forgetfulness. He promises himself he’ll remember this time.

6S

Patrick Parks authored a novel, Tucumcari (KERNPUNKT Press, 2018), and has had fiction, poetry, reviews and interviews appear or forthcoming in a number of places, most recently The Millions, The Writing Disorder, TYPO, Change Seven, Ocotillo Review, Bridge Eight, Another Chicago Magazine, and Full Stop. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop and lives with his wife near Chicago. For more, visit his website.

20250217

Dairy and Beer

by Pete Prokesch

The boy jumped off the boxcar and rolled through the desert dust. The Milky Way lay a white haze over the sky like spilt milk. His gums stuck to his teeth as he stumbled towards a convenient store and drank from a spigot on the concrete wall. A sign flickered on – Joe’s Dairy and Beer – his father’s name. He guzzled the metallic water as it soaked the front of his shirt and then a safety click and cold metal against the back of his head. He thought of his father while the stars shuddered and the Milky Way dribbled down the sky.

6S

Pete Prokesch is a writer from the Boston area. His fiction has appeared in Denver Quarterly, Four Way Review, and Evergreen Review, among others, and he has received support from Mass Cultural Council. A carpenter by trade, he has also worked as a shellfish farmer and on a trail crew in the National Forest. You can read his writing on his website.