THE SPANISH CRISIS

The Amon Liner Poetry Award AN IMPERFECT FIGURE

Tegan Daly

                                is making biscuits in the morning just for myself worth it                                  kneading in the butter filling the kitchen           with godly golden                                  crumble smell breaking open like a confession                                  steam gasping into the air apron covered in floury                                  handprints           not caring that it’s hot in the kitchen I will                                  say of […]

TIGER DRILL IN BUTTERFLY CLASS

Stephen Hundley

Preston Rigalloe is going blind. I have a slip from his mother that says so. We trust you will deal with this gently. I’m watching Preston try to write a sentence involving an adjective, his eyes an inch from the page and squinting. Someone could teach him braille, but in two months he won’t be […]

The Robert Watson Literary Prize Story WAR RUGS

Brendan Egan

The Dogfaced girl sits with her red-furred muzzle pressed against the window of the van. The sidewalks of this neighborhood are empty, and the houses are brick, built in the image of their owners’ skulls—flat and clenched. If she holds still, she can hear all the TVs, spilling their caustic wash of anger and bubbling jingles.

The Robert Watson Literary Prize Poem SERTRALINE

Emily Nason

Object permanence: something my dog doesn’t think
I possess. She sits on the ball when she no longer wants

to participate. I wish to one day hold that kind of boldness.
Near us, a heron puffs his chest, wades knee-deep into