Izards in the Glaciers, by Antoine-Louis Barye

Glacier Kiss

Rime has settled on our wine fridge and the kitchen
island, making the quartz glacier shimmer in the
morning light. Lately, our lies have taken on the
taste of snow, the same regular crystal structure.
That’s how the marital cold fission works: without
moving, just by multiplying itself.

Behind the stained glass window, snakes have
emerged from their den. After shedding, they look
so vulnerable and kind of bluish. They even have
small snake-goosebumps, as if they’d gotten scared
or aroused by something. At their core, they are
transparent monsters who feel constant separation
anxiety about their lost skins.

Unable to generate their own body heat, snakes
prepare for their big frenzy in the mating ball. We
watch, mesmerized, as they tangle together like
sugar lips in a kiss, and our arms get covered in
rhinestones.

August 10, 2025




Further considerations

[fiction]

Baby Boom and Bust

By Thomas Wright

‘Howdy hoody! Lemme guess: you was just passing through the middle of middle England, and you recognized the flame-decorated Ferrari outside my Hobbit Hole, and you buzzed ‘cos you fancied a parley?'

[article]

Telling the Truth

By Randi Schalet

I once told a therapist my father was molesting me. It wasn’t true. I was twenty-five and exhausted, lying awake most nights trying to understand why I felt so sad when nothing in my life was obviously wrong.

[poetry]

Thoughts of Endangered Paper

By Kenneth Nichols

Here I am, looking at this copy of a // two hundred-dollar book.

[poetry]

this is about capitalism, and The Poet Sees Her Ex at Pride

By Emma Johnson-Rivard

duty pulled a mountain along lesser used roads. // time was ill-spent preparing workers for the crossing.