Improbabilities

By Natalie Coufal
Our existence defies the odds, our parents’ second set of identical twins—a one in 70,000 chance.

Three Stories Inspired ...

In honor of "Midwest Surrealist" Sylvia Fein's 100th birthday, Ron Nyren, Maw Shein Win, and Sarah Stone wrote 100-word stories inspired by Fein's fantastical imagery. Evan Karp accompanied the stories and paintings with his musical interpretations.

Your Girlfriend as a We...

By Cathy Ulrich
They’ll call her Big Bertha, they’ll cover her skin with paintings of pinup girls that you will finger-trace in bed...

Far from this Howling C...

By Charmaine Wilkerson
It took the gazebo, first, the one on the beach where we used to picnic, the one where we’d made our baby on a crickety night.

When Maisie Draws a Hou...

By Mel George
Whenever Maisie draws a house, it’s a square, pointy-roofed affair with four neat windows and a smoking chimney.

After the Whipping

By Bill King
A boy stands knee-deep on heron-thin legs, stung skin numbing now, as stars prick creek water sliding slow, slow beneath him.

After a Heartless Winte...

By Juliana Gray
In May I tilled the garden, so swept up in the work that I churned beyond the boundaries of Grandma’s old plot into rocky soil.

Photo Story: Goat Yoga

By Lisa Fairman
We take revenge during goat-yoga class. A herd of ladies arrive each Saturday, and Friday night we gorge ourselves like horses before a race.

Instructions for Cleani...

By Sarah Freligh
I have my secrets. I take my time, stare at my face until I’m a stranger, a she who is not me. A she who helps herself to whatever will buff the sharp edges of the world.

Palm Funeral

By Adam Schuitema
The tallest palm on the atoll lost its fronds long before falling. King tides and storm surges had breached the walls, poisoned it with salt.

The Quiet Sadism of the...

By Heather Bourbeau
She woke to news of another stalemate, more children dying on the border, mounting humanitarian crises overseas, and a small mass in her breast.

Photo Story: The Trumpe...

By Natalie Wu
She waits in the corner, haughty and lacquered. I always sit close, inhaling her delicate scent of beeswax polish.

Catching Rose Baxter in...

By Sabrina Hicks
She slid through her memories, trying to capture one, fireflies filling summer near a croaking pond...

Cleansed

By Gary Duncan
She says don’t look in the bedside cupboard, so I look. There’s a Bible, a spare pillow and a small pile of toenail clippings.

Photo Story: Hydroponic...

By Tamara Stanley
It is mostly summer now. Above me there are skyscrapers, McMansions, slums...

Ghost Texts

By Esther Gulli
Before work, sitting in her crimson battered minivan, she reads his words again. Milk. Bananas. That bread I like.

Man of Sorrows

By Kim Addonizio
Not enough to get crucified. You’ve got to be covered with red spots like an anti-vaxxer’s kid’s measles. Blood everywhere.

Mysteries of Sex

By Kim Addonizio
Things were going well, so I risked slipping my hand down my pants.  I seemed into it, so I continued on.

Plans

By Kim Addonizio
It’s hard to get together with his friends because they all like to hibernate. Everyone mostly prefers staying home, so when they make plans with him they often cancel, last-minute.

My Sister’s House

By Mary Grimm
I didn’t want to see the rooms half empty, each dish packed, each rug rolled up.