“You can’t have a dog while you still suck your thumb,” Ma debated, after the last brand of chili-flavored nail polish failed to break Amy’s habit but trained her to forever love spicy food.
Youth in Asia (a mondegreen) by L. Acadia
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Issue #32: Animal Life
Rosetta Post-its by Guy Biederman
Los Gatos Tienen Hambre, says the post-it on the fridge. Since when did the cats learn Spanish, since when did they learn to write? The same could be asked of you, says another post-it.
Pet Shop Boys by Tim Craig
Dayne’s on-off-off-on stepdad, Kel, says stay away from that new pet shop.
Blue-naped Parrots See More Than They Say by Judy Darley
I date Brodie while I’m visiting Seattle. He shares a draughty old house with a bunch of roommates, including a blue-naped parrot who lives in a big cage looking out at a treehouse.
Nymph of Appalachia by Laura Grant
“The nymph is a lie you tell the fish. The better you tie the lie, with feather and thread and hook, the quicker the bite.” Alma Reed, Nymph Fishing Skills
Portals by Brandon Haffner
Cat sits at the kitchen table eating all the cookies. Her father is here, too, scrolling his phone. He’s running for mayor, and he’s losing. Even she knows that.
Carry On by Lucinda Kempe
Once there was a man who loved his donkey, but his donkey didn’t love him back. The donkey loved an eggshell, but the eggshell didn’t love it back.
Jailbird by Jay Kenny
In high school, Jailbird keeps a cut-throat under his wing, tucked in with the leaves and twigs for the nest in his room.
Poi Dog by Georgie Morvis
He’s never walked this street before. Normally he turns right at the sign of the banana trees but today he blazes right by them, walking downhill, leaning like a weatherman in a hurricane.
The Dragonfly by Alan Michael Parker
It’s 7:31 p.m. in the weird light outside a Los Angeles coffee shop, where a pizza delivery guy waits for his pickups.
The Bronze Medal by Vincent James Perrone
She wants to meet the pig—snout down, paraded through the town square of sodden earth and
stump dimples, now trailed by serpentine line of freshly showered farmer with tomato noses and
breath prematurely soured from all that auctioneer talk.
Glass Flamingos by Catherine Roberts
I smash them all. Because who the fuck collects glass flamingos? Around me, pink shards sparkle in the carpet like pretty vomit.
When Elephants Become Stories by Vimla Sriram
An elephant is pressed into my palms as I prepare to leave home. I marvel at its neolithic shape – smooth and plump like a thumb-sized Botero sculpture.
Attachment Theory by Sidney Tilghman
In a basement hallway, in graduate school, a classmate lectures me on attachment theory. Based on his prior experience as a sex therapist, he’d guess only 5% of Americans display healthy attachment relationships