Issue: NiftyLit #9

Francesca Della Bona

"Her son-shaped thing never answers. It looks back at her with pits instead of eyes, black and bottomless. She digs deeper and deeper into them - clawing, searching - and she knows that one day she won’t be able to re-emerge."

Janice Odell

"This big love, like a / clear, meandering / stream in the canyon, / has faithfully shaped us."

Edith Friedman

"Turning a mother voice on and off. Slow at saying some things / in America. Regret never singing in a rock band."

Jill Michelle

"Radio on, we ride the gray snake of highway through New England / October—the shock of saffron-shot treetops and tangerine leaves / Always startling"

Jill Michelle

"I hope / to create something / good enough to stay, wait / for that other child of ten / dropped at the local library / branch while Mom runs Saturday errands"