11Feb 21, 2022
By Abbey Gate did they wait, hives of humanity confined in a makeshift holding pattern, their hopes in hand, desperate for rescue, a shimmering mirage that appeared at a distance but that never arrived, in the event outpaced by a resonant blast shuddering the earth and imbruing pavement with crimson puddles, hatred’s sudden signature. Elsewhere, […]
Written by: marathonlitreview on February 21, 2022. 12Feb 21, 2022
I remember to request no straw at lunch. The waiter asks whether I’m doing so to save the planet. Yes, in fact I am. He smiles and nods, settles for a breath onto heels, then toes. Heads off for iced tea, unsweetened. Waiting on the Summer Special, I read an article about the Counter- Enlightenment, […]
Written by: marathonlitreview on February 21, 2022. 13Feb 21, 2022
The flowers lose themselves in grieving and each petal falls like a day that never was, but we all agree, should have been. I am furious that halfway through my mother’s service I can think of nothing but a cigarette; did her life mean less to me than nicotine? Shall I think of her now […]
Written by: marathonlitreview on February 21, 2022. 14Feb 21, 2022
Kids ride bikes along the paths in Falkner Park on a warm spring day as parents watch from nearby benches. Couples stroll across freshly-mown and edged green lawns, recline in the shade of oak, sycamore and plane trees. American and Australian flags rustle in the breeze outside the house facing the park as the homeowner […]
Written by: marathonlitreview on February 21, 2022. 15Feb 21, 2022
And Now, a Word from Violet Beauregarde I told you I was more of a gum girl. But you offered something I thought I should want, so I didn’t refuse. I was a child, after all. You reminded me of someone I loved: cane on cobblestones, slow mornings in the park. It was a lie. […]
Written by: marathonlitreview on February 21, 2022. 16Feb 21, 2022
Red drips from the moon, like water off the glass leaving wet rings on our moving box coffee table—I’ll buy a real one in a week or two, sometime after I pay the internet bill. According to the Bible, when the sixth seal opens there will be a great Earthquake—the sun will blacken, the moon […]
Written by: marathonlitreview on February 21, 2022. 17Feb 21, 2022
(in memory of Lavinia Andronicus) how many times have you found yourself on your knees begging for life for redemption for what is yours, stolen? the slick on your legs is but dried blood stretched out on skin. your god watched the rest of it drip back into the earth. your uncle watched the rest […]
Written by: marathonlitreview on February 21, 2022. 18Feb 21, 2022
i. self-destruction They’re standing on the banks of a river — in a gully – cutting through a wall of emerald foliage kin: The trees know all of our secrets. After all, we hide them in the curves of her voluptuous leaves and pray the silver lining doesn’t unravel —phloem intact, xylem singing. We are […]
Written by: marathonlitreview on February 21, 2022. 19Feb 21, 2022
The pine martin watches, the wren takes flight, as men circle ‘round and the cutting begins. When it is finished, her rings Will tell the story – if anyone stops to look. Some parts dark and heavy, others soft, almost silver in the light. The measure of her final age as a tree, the last […]
Written by: marathonlitreview on February 21, 2022. 20Feb 21, 2022
driving home from the orthodontist this morning, I’m thinking about the way birds fly while peaches are ripe & dew-damp & eager & you can’t help but let the juice explode inside your mouth & have you ever seen a hummingbird suckling its feeder? as if she’s trying to get out every last ounce of […]
Written by: marathonlitreview on February 21, 2022.