My center grows cold and heavy. In Nagasaki, the winter months move on slowly. With my cast iron heart planted firmly in my chest, I find that simple tasks have now become difficult: getting out of bed, grooming myself, getting ready for work. The heater has been on the fritz—that, or my Welsh roommate and I are simply too stupid to read the Japanese on the remote and can’t figure out how to turn it on. After fiddling with the remote for the millionth time, I set the thing down and forget about it. I crawl into the warmth of my comforter and futon mattress and wait for my heart to grow heavier.
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Featuring:
Issue 108, published October 2023, features works of poetry, flash fiction, short nonfiction, and visual art by Seo Jin Ahn, Elya Braden, Lawrence Bridges, Leslie Brown, Brian Bruso, Mark Anthony Burke, James Butcher, Lila Byrne, Anne Champion, Lorraine Hanlon Comanor, Cami DuMay, David Fowler, Ed Gaudet, Helen Geld, Christianne Goodwin, Michael Loyd Gray, Jen Hirt, Stanley Horowitz, Brandyce Ingram, Juyanne James, Anaïs La Rocca, Francesco Levato, Jim Linnell, Glen A. Mazis, Pahadisoul, Jim Ross, Aarron Sholar, Abigale Tabor, Joseph Vickery, Ann Weil, Sharon Whitehill, Holly Willis, and Stephen Curtis Wilson.