A Tidings of Magpies

Being in Love by Chungmi Kim Awakened from a dream, I curl up and turn. The roses on the dresser smile and your words bloom. The red roses for Valentine's Day. Like in a film thoughts of you unfold moment by moment. I vaguely hear the sound of your spoon scooping cereal the water stream in the shower the buzzing noise of your electric razor like a singing of cicada. Your footsteps in and out of the bedroom. Your lips touching my cheek lightly. And the sound of the door shutting. In your light I fall asleep again under the warm quilt happily like a child. Upon waking on the kitchen counter I find a half grapefruit carefully cut and sectioned. Such a loving touch is a milestone For my newly found happiness. please note: photo by Natalie Clayton

by Philip Appleman They could pump frenzy into air ducts and rage into reservoirs, dynamite dams and drown cities, cry fire in theaters as the victims are burning, but I will find my way through blackened streets and kneel down at your side. They could jump the median, head-on, and obliterate the future, fit .45's to the hands of kids and skate them off to school, flip live butts into tinderbox forests and hellfire half the heavens, but in the rubble of smoking cottages I will hold you in my arms. They could send kidnappers to kindergartens and pedophiles to playgrounds, wrap themselves in Old Glory and gut the Bill of Rights, pound the door with holy screed and put an end to reason, but I will cut through their curtains of cunning and find you somewhere in the moonlight. Whatever they do with their anthrax or chainsaws, however they strip-search or brainwash or blackmail, they cannot prevent me from s...