Issue: NiftyLit #8

Edith Friedman

"Her sea children, better prize, mid-size / when they sun themselves on ancient rock / she smells the dripping fuzz of their hard heads."

Ruth Towne

"The bones of my ribcage articulate to one / another under my skin, hidden roots / that have yet to produce. I wait for symbol, / for my bones to reduce."

Amanda Bramley

"An imminent storm brewed foreboding clouds. They gathered in future skies. With Ethan’s small body curled on mine, I couldn’t see what was hovering in our horizon."

Kyle Singh

"Did the lilies tell me how to stay afloat? / They swim against the current of my body / And fill my lungs with water / Where was I to go?"

Gyaru

"One thing I also knew about the Aswang, is that it was able to experience the range of emotions all humans felt. When my father was angry, his Aswang, in spite of its search for blood, was experiencing a range of emotions that I had only come to acknowledge I, myself, had as an adult."

John Brantingham

"The brightly colored signs / that tell you the city has condemned / abandoned houses or old buildings / are coming up this spring like crocuses."