Issue 17

Spring/Summer 2015

Cover Photo © 2015 “Changing Seasons” by Patricia Wallace Jones.  Graphic enhancements by Daniel Milbo.

Touch, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual can be a powerful thing, and its healing influence cannot be discounted or overlooked.  Whether coming into or leaving our lives, people touch us in unique ways, and their touch can remain with us for years.

heart, mind, and soul

Fuel when the body is ravaged

Sustenance when you doubt the strength to carry on.

Chrystal Berche

No drug can heal the words,

“Three months.”

Ariela Sarah Taub

But we need to initiate

fresh adventures,

grip life and twist up

lipstick’s flame

Dianne Silvestri

My touch—not my intellect, experience, or skill—

is all that matters.

Maureen Hirthler

We feed on each other

in universal

consumption and remaking.

David Anthony Sam

And we’d sit on our porch or in a bar

and choose to raise our drinks

to sheer survival.

Lavinia Kumar

Who could have known there’d be no goodbyes

when we promised each other forever?

Chrystal Berche

He was in his best trousers and shirt, both frayed

at the cuffs.  On his legs were metal braces

Julia C. Spring

I didn't have any money for stamps but Aunt Sue said not to worry about stamps

 because they don’t charge for letters to Heaven.

Pat Fogarty

Maybe she wanted cobbler

when she was fed custard;

maybe she wanted a bath

instead of a shower, or to sit

in the sun a little longer than the rest.

Kate Van Pelt DeLoach