- Letter from the Other Side of Silence — Stephanie L. Harper
- Because The Deacon Couldn’t Sleep — Dina Friedman
- One Day At A Time– Kavita Ratna
- YOU ARE– Mahvash Mohtadullah
- Gypsy Woman– George Bakola
- For Angie– Rachel Ikins
- Rise And Fall– Lynn White
- Canary’s Plea– Agaigbe Uhembansha
- The Lost Pages– Sabreen Ahmed
- VOICES: Three Haikus by Daiypayan Nair
- Lipstick– Kalpana Singh Chitnis
- She Rides The Bus– Marianne Tefft
- There Is A Desire– Trijita Mukherjee
- My Inner Voice– Shailja Sharma
For Angie— Rachel Ikins
You had a cyst,
a moon swelled,
your hand held
the ultrasound over
your right
lower quadrant.
Toothless aunt on your father’s side,
all aunts, read it in the cards,
passed it on.
The past is a small town.
Side-show Calliope music shrieks
Freaks—bearded ladies,
Courtesy poly cystic ovaries
You in the grocery store, Tuesday.
Torn between batteries and lightbulbs,
a baby cries
an arrow of voice,
hitched wings like a mosquito
lands in your ears
and stings and sucks your blood
decades after
the miscarriage.
Rachael Ikins is a 2016/18/2022 Pushcart, 2013/18 CNY Book Award, 2018 Independent Book Award winner, & 2019 Vinnie Ream & Faulkner poetry finalist. 2021 Best of the Net nominee. She is a Syracuse University graduate with a degree in Child and Family Studies. She worked as a vet tech and later as a sign language interpreter/teaching assistant with ages K-12. Author/illustrator of nine books in multiple genres. Her writing and artwork have appeared in journals world wide from India, UK, Japan, Canada and US. Born in the Fingerlakes she lives by a river with her dogs, cats, salt water fish, a garden that feeds her through winter and riotous houseplants with a room of their own.
Parcham Online 
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