CONTENTS

Editor’s Note by Jason Kyle Howard

FICTION

Mary Hostetter
Berry Patch

Jon Sealy
Circulation

CREATIVE NONFICTION

Rebecca Gayle Howell
Some Thoughts On Marriage Before I Wed

Jake Maynard
Barely Runnable

POETRY

Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
He Seems Different, 1999, From the Series Soul Erased, Joyce Scott
Scorned, He Implodes, 1999, From the Series Soul Erased, Joyce Scott
Guns As Angel’s Wings, 1999, From the Series Soul Erased, Joyce Scott
Repent, 1999, From the Series Soul Erased, Joyce Scott
Sap
“To believe in this living–”

Rebecca Gayle Howell
The Granny Woman’s Note 
The Basketmaker’s Note 
The Stone Carver’s Note

Jane Hicks
Abscission 
Take This Leaf 
Follow
Persist

Lisa J. Parker
Hillbilly Transplant: Pondering Park Dominoes and the Death of Celia Cruz 
Hillbilly Transplant: Working at the Metropolitan Opera
Cleave 
Passing of Grief

Joshua Lee Martin
Tonic Exorcism 
Cutting

Linda Parsons
Kinpeople

D.A. Gray
Cave Country
One Evening in Early Spring

Mary Ellen Miller
Willow 

INTERVIEW

Silas House
A Conversation with Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon & Rebecca Gayle Howell

CRAFT ESSAY

Pauletta Hansel
Truth and Consequences: On Writing and Not Writing Poetry

BOOK REVIEWS

Leah Hampton
Weedeater by Robert Gipe

COVER PHOTOGRAPH

Children of Shangri-Lost by Stephanie Strasburg

Dancers from the “Children of Shangri-Lost” prepare to perform a story of their families’ journey from Bhutan to Nepal to Pittsburgh at City of Asylum in the Mexican War Streets on Tuesday, July 5, 2016. From left, Rabina Phuyel, 17, sits as Bandhana Bhattarai, 15, winces while getting her hair braided by Binsha Bhattarai, 15. Continuting right, Ritika Chamlagai, 15, takes a photo of her handiwork on Deepa Phuyel’s braids, age 20, and on the bottom right, Hera Nepal, 17, looks on. All the young women now live in Baldwin. With around 5,000 people, the Bhutanese community is one of the largest refugee and immigrant communities in Pittsburgh.