Issue Five

Falling from Nest to Nest

By Mari Toplyn

“This is our new home,” Mother says.

This home: scratched floors and chipping paint. I sleep with Sister on a bed with no frame. Two rooms, one bathroom.

New boyfriend, new home.

This home: smaller but cleaner. I make new friends. They tease me. “My dollhouse is bigger,” they jeer. Sister gets angry. I cry. Mother demands to never be ashamed of our home.

Goodbye boyfriend, new home.

This home: one bedroom, and I sleep on the couch; Sister with Mother. I weep often. Only Sister sees. When Mother does, she hurts me. Sister yells.

No job, new home.

This home: not mine.

Marina (Mari) Toplyn is a sixteen-year-old junior in high school from southern New Jersey. She is a reader and creator of all things imaginative. She writes every available second and when the notebook is tucked away, she’s creating her thoughts into pictures inside her sketchbook—which usually ends up getting stained with coffee or tea.

An Imagined Conversation, or Why Couples Should Just Listen to Happy Music

By Bailey Share Aizic

Perched on the edge

of your bed, I listen to the

lyrics of a song I’ve

heard a million times.

“I’ll never be the comfort

you lost when you were

nine,” the singer belts,

and I look at you. “Don’t

give me that face,” you say,

“this song is about quitting

smoking.” I want to say

something clever in return,

like, “same difference,”

but you’re smarter than

me, so I just keep staring.

Wistful. I know you want

me to go home, or anywhere

other than your room. I will,

in a moment. For now,

let me count your freckles

and imagine a future in

which you love me.

Bailey Share Aizic is a poet, student, and Oxford comma enthusiast based in Los Angeles. She works on the editorial team of Wizards in Space Magazine, a litmag by and for nerdy writers, and performs improv comedy in her (scant) spare time. Read her recent work in Noctua, Rogue Agent, Right Hand Pointing, and Calamus, and read her mind @sortabailey.

National Day

By Kathleen Madigan

My classmates compete

to see who can bring the most camels.

Some of the older kids bring

falcons, and let them fly through the

crowd of people on the field.

During lunch,

old women sit on the ground

with a small electric stove

in front of them, making fried balls of dough

covered in honey and sesame seeds. We

watch a performance in the gym, of girls

doing the hair dance, whipping knee-length

locks from side to side. Of boys

twirling guns in time to the

music. The songs performed in a foreign tongue.

They give us flags of

a country I don’t yet know

but will become my home.

Kathleen Madigan spent four years living in the Middle East, where she learned many new traditions. Her favorite was National Day, a time at school to appreciate the culture of the United Arab Emirates by seeing native animals and eating traditional food.

Lady Nature

By Betsy Jenner

Lady Nature

Betsy Jenner is seventeen years old and from South India. Her art and writing have been published or are forthcoming in Door is a Jar, The Tishman review, The Claremont review, Polyphony H.S and Canvas, among others. She is also the first place winner of The Daphne review’s Inaugural Web art competition.

Peru

By Sofia Schlozman

These photos were taken during a trip to Peru the summer of 2016. One was taken in the hills near Machu Picchu and the other off the coast of Lake Titicaca in a village called Perka Norte. It was an amazing trip during which I was able to experience Peruvian culture as I never had before. The people were some of the kindest I had ever met and never failed to welcome me into their homes and share their love of their country with me. Though these images cannot possibly capture the magic of Peruvian culture, my hope is that they convey the beauty and uniqueness of the county, not only in terms of the landscape, but the people one meets there as well.

Sofia Schlozman is a junior at Belmont High School in Belmont, MA. She has always loved photos, but did not seriously pursue photography until taking a film photography class as a freshman. Now, she carries a camera with her nearly everywhere she goes. Photos are her way of capturing memories, and she loves that each photo conveys deeper feelings hidden below the surface of the image. She hopes that sharing her photography with others allows viewers not only to peek into her life, but also to develop their own feelings about moments they never would have experienced before.

Coffee Shop Rejection

By Kayley Reininger

When she admitted that she was a lesbian, his whole dream of them being together- like in all the romance novels he read– popped like a balloon. He sat in silence for a moment, staring off at a random bookshelf.

Error, error. Cannot compute.

Comprehension finally swept through his mind, and his eyes flicked back at her, taking in her anxious expression.

“Oh…”

She bit her lip and tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear, nervously awaiting his reaction. He had honestly never even thought…It was okay though. He would be okay. Rose was nervous, and he needed to show her that he wasn’t some…homophobic jerk. He nodded decisively.

Input command. Enter.

“That’s okay,” he finally said, looking at her and then down into his coffee cup. It was cold. He took a breath.

“I’m not gonna lie. I’m disappointed. I… think I might need a few days to process this. After all, if we’re going to stay friends, then I need to get over this crush.”

He glanced up just in time to see a wobbly smile form on her lips. It reached her hazel eyes, he noted with relief. He had succeeded in alleviating whatever fears had been running through her mind.

“Oh thank god, I was so worried about your reaction. I didn’t- I didn’t want to hurt you or anything, you know that right?” She spoke slowly in an attempt to keep her voice even.

He nodded. “It’s okay, Rosie.”

She laughed and swatted at him. “Don’t call me that, Charles.”

He grinned before reverting back into a more serious expression. “Honestly,” he started, “we’ll probably be better friends now that that’s been resolved.”

“I hope so. It would suck to not have a book-buddy anymore,” Rose replied, pouting at the thought.

“And over a silly crush, too. My ego isn’t that fragile…to throw away our friendship over something that’s not your fault,” he said.

“Ugh! You’re getting all sappy! I think we’re getting too emotional today,” she complained, “Care to get fresh coffee instead, signore?”

He shook his head and laughed. “Only you- even though you’re an avid reader of romance novels- would complain about feelings.”

“Someone needs to with the way you were emoting,” she threw back, scooting away from the table.

“Get me another?” he asked.

“What’s the magic word?”

He rolled his eyes. “Please?”

She walked off without another word. After she was out of sight, he leaned back in his chair with a sigh. This was not going how he had envisioned it, and honestly, while he was disappointed…he was also sort of glad. The whole day leading up to his confession, thoughts of ruining their friendship ran through his head. It was probably why he had been so accepting of her rejection: he valued their friendship more than anything.

He didn’t regret asking her out though.

‘What’s that they say about weights and shoulders?’ Charlie thought.

Kayley Reininger is a young writer living in southern Illinois with her family. She is an active member of her school newspaper staff and is the Public Relations Officer in her local robotics team. In the future, she aims to complete a full-length novel and travel the world.