March 2025
In this issue
Contents
The Marionette Collection
Being civically engaged, she began encouraging him to offer marionettes to charity events, fund raisers, parties. They began their marriage this way and the practice continued for years.
The Long Death of Asif in the Garden
She left the next morning. Asif did not put up a fight. He simply sat at the kitchen table while she packed her things.
Robin’s Egg
Sarah’s mother kissed her on the forehead. “I hadn’t really thought about it.
Smoke and Mirrors
Yes, yes, she continued to work while I was building the company but look at what she has now? She drives a Mercedes!
THE LITTLE GODDESS
As Didi walks away, you look around and notice the acadia tree by the neighbour’s yard. Two boys are gathered around it, struggling to reach the top branch which holds a prized mango.
Four poems by Bhaswati Ghosh
Four poems from Bhaswati Ghosh’s collection Nostalgic for a Place Never Seen.
A Universe Teeming with Life
You drown each taco in a habanero sauce that alarming shade of orange exclusively reserved for traffic
TRAIN TO BACK BAY
Your terrific postcard—that bloke swinging her / hips high to the harmonica, swindling / p.m. to a.m. My masala and sugar steep between / my thighs.
Omori’s Law
a boy had become pinned between a screen and a hard place since then I only ever listened with one ear so I could hear it coming
Uncharmed Aroma
Desire coats the room, his scorching tongue licks her dainty neck. Her wax begins to wither—blistering from an unwavering torch. Too consumed in blazing fervor.
Your breath thin as wires
Consider a distance measured in black wires or one in buoys, their slow dissonant arcs of red over the water.
Evolutionary Ecology
I’m letting fish and turtles Swim to the edges of this coastal river