The Guest —Kelly Dolejsi
Who am I? she asked in the guest room
at her mother’s house. Who’s asking?
she thought. There was nothing she
mustn’t do. As of yesterday, beginning
officially in a room lined with posters
of nostrils, her mother had cancer,
the rooms of her throat full of cells
building more rooms filled with stacks
of cells, cancer like a child playing with
blocks of her loved one on the floor,
while the doctors spoke over its head.
What’s my purpose? she asked. For what
am I thankful? Her mother, full of coffee,
smoke, and strangers, like the Enlightenment.
Carrie O. Adams
Jennifer Bullis
Toi Derricotte
Kelly Dolejsi
Aisha Down
George Eklund
Michael Hettich
Julie Swarstad Johnson
Gregory Kimbrell
Kate LaDew
Frannie Lindsay
Kimberly Miller
Daniel Edward Moore
Sean F. Munro
Matthew Murrey
Tolu Oloruntoba
Sarah Pape
Lawrence Raab
Elizabeth Robinson
Aaron Smith