Spec the psychical forces within issue 24. The Brasilia Review. Deep awareness is itself a neurosis. Obsessional ideas appear in bitches when their pups are taken too early, before weaning is complete. The mothers then begin hoarding sticks, cloths, toys, in their dens. Close to our pets and remote from others like us. Procrastinate, another way to force a decision. Competing wants produce discordance. Thoughts fight each other. Incorporeal, they land no damage. Among the tangible the opposite occurs. Spotless babes raised with positive reinforcement find they have sorry latent drives activated in their schooling. The poison apple of the first year is deceit. It’s handed out by the other children. One poor creature of neglect is enough to hang cobwebs on the others. The teachers promote tenderness. They praise not talent but hard work (completed drawings are hard work). Both absorb into the ken.
Now for the pleasure.
Fiction
A Firsthand Account of the End of the World by Dominic Dayta
“in needle-thin currents made black by her mascara”
New World by Margaret Lesh
“and Mom is getting thin again”
Poetry
The Lost City Next Door by Holly Day
“I have turned my back… from more miracles than I can count”
Do Not Ask Too Much by Paul Freidinger
“the lot in life that explodes toward fate”
Tranquilla by Matthew James Friday
“and the sky talks / bluely of Spring”
At the Rodeo by John Grey
“The ride is a conflict of breaths”
The melancholy by Paweł Markiewicz
“existence born of a spring dew”
Insupportable Haughtiness in Countenance by Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah
“borrowed a skin with some shades from a fairer in Spain”
The Stylist Has Taken Shelter by Frederick Pollack
“Inadequate philosophers / came to his door”
Numbing the senses by Fabrice Poussin
“invisible to the increasing populace”
Hit List by Aditya Shankar
“callous eyes that watch the runaway”