miCRo: “Playing Taps” by C.W. Bryan
Separated by walls and doors, the narrator of “Playing Taps” is still able to supply his mind with visual images of the neighbor he only hears.
miCRo: “Mirror” by Christopher Nelson
Christopher Nelson’s concrete poem looks at mental illness in a complex, gripping way.
miCRo: “I’m Stronger Than the Romans” by Parker Wilson
In this piece by Parker Wilson, we meet an online fitness addict with an unforgettable voice.
miCRo: “Devotee” by Shlagha Borah
A prose poem with the juxtaposition of holy sites and vile acts
miCRo: Three Poems by Akumbu Uche
In these poems, Uche masterfully captures the absurdity and isolation of diaspora in a giant urban space.
miCRo: “Jesus Years: A Genealogy” by Pamela Johnson Parker
Pamela Johnson Parker’s triptych spans three generations of labor, sex, and shifting relationships to the land in the mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky.
miCRo: “Murder City” by Kelle Groom
A flash essay that looks back on a friendship and is structured in a masterful way.
miCRo: “Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin Should’ve Interviewed Some Women” by Bibi B.
In a brilliant ekphrastic response to the controversial 2007 memoir Three Cups of Tea, Bibi B. challenges the silencing of women’s voices and lived experiences in literature and art.
miCRo: “Curious and Entertaining Facts about Whales” by Daniel Uncapher
We can speculate about anything.
miCRo: “The Maternal Instinct of Snakes” by Michelle Ross
In “The Maternal Instinct of Snakes,” Michelle Ross metes out just enough information, just in time, from an expertly chosen point-of-view, to complicate the reader’s allegiances.
miCRo: “Stranger” by Chris Watkins
In this ghazal, Chris Watkins skillfully crafts a narrative about a religious family and a speaker who sees things differently.
miCRo: “Motherlode” by Therese Gleason
Gleason invites us inside the psyche of a young speaker grappling with their father’s absence.
