The Risk-Taker

by Mary Oliver

No one yet has made a list of places where the extraordinary may happen and where it may not. Still, there are indications. Among crowds, in drawing rooms, among easements and comforts and pleasures, it is seldom seen. It likes the out-of-doors, it likes the concentrating mind. It likes solitude. It is more likely to stick to the risk-taker than the ticket-taker.

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Mary Oliver (1935-2019) was an award-winning American poet known for her hopeful and awe-inspired observations of nature. Her six sentences are excerpted from Blue Pastures.

It’s Conditional, Baby

by Sarah Gokhale

If it takes 300 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, how many beers will it take to poison the center of my unborn fetus? If I have six beers and two shots a day, resulting in a miscarriage within two weeks, will I be ready to take the LSAT in September? November, at latest? If I write only in conditional statements, will it improve my score? If I score a 175, will my dad get kinder, softer, dare I say proud? If my dad is proud of me, do I still have to be a lawyer?

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Sarah Gokhale is a producer from Orange County, California. Her favorite condiment is Trader Joe’s jalapeno sauce. Her dog’s favorite condiment is cream cheese. Her favorite cities are NYC, Albuquerque, and Philly.

Reopen

by Susan Isla Tepper

My life has never been the same. Do the people who endured the other plagues feel this way or am I a complete loser? Everything I knew and loved was shut down and most didn’t reopen, and I didn’t reopen on some level. Perhaps my heart stitched shut. What reopened tastes different. It looks different, too, do I?

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Susan Isla Tepper is the author of seven published books of fiction and poetry. Her most recent is a novella titled GIRL UPSIDE DOWN. She also writes stage plays and is currently in pre-production for a play in Ireland.