NiftyLit Mix Tape

Terry Wijesuriya

"She grumbled to herself but went anyway. The cool water felt good in the heat of the afternoon, and she put on a frock. She couldn’t reach around to tie the ribbons in a nice bow so she left them dangling until her mother would notice and scold her."

Travis Stephens

"In our forever mix tape Melissa / shouts, Rhiannon croons and / even Bonnie growls a bit, the / velvet of their voices bourbon / straight."

Norma DaCrema

"I’m trying to find the ravine around the bend, / the borrowed cars parked along the alfalfa / with all of us at sixteen making love by AM radio"

Norma DaCrema

"It's hard to breathe in here, / overwhelming warm like a Hallmark store, / heavy with mint and Miss Vance's Aviance."

Erika Gallion

"Hyrule didn’t necessarily feel safe to me as a child. It was dangerous and sometimes scary. But it did feel like home, in the way that home sometimes felt like a puzzle to complete."

Travis Hoyles

"We'd drive all day in dad's Dodge Shadow, / dodging shadows that the road spat forth at dusk;"

Naomi Dean

"The pantheon of life guards keeps tabs, / Banana Boat haze drifting down to mingle / with band-aids & chlorine, mildew & promise."