- At the Outset by Jay MacLeod
- Stardust by Chrissa Sandlin
- A Cappella by Melissa Studdard
- Taking Flight by Mangesh Naik
- Bride Price by Sari Krosinsky
- Let Down by WC Roberts
Stardust
by Chrissa Sandlin
Right now, he's running through nebula, snapping at the flares of newborn stars. I settle
into the clods and spears, bugs creeping through my thoughts. Comets lodge in his brown
eyes, a solar wind streaming through his lashes. He stops to shake off the stardust.
There are clouds out there: dust, gas, plasma. Hot and sharp, the color of heat, smelling
of dirt before it becomes this hardened mud, thick as an obscure dialect. He sees them,
these clouds—watches them billow in the universe, unlike the ones gathering invisible to
the west. Those thunderstorms will block my view of his stellar yard.
I lay, unwilling to call him home, hoping that the universe smells like everything, like
home.
BIO:
A part-time writer and mom to an Eskie/Papillon mix and a retriever mix, Chrissa mainly writes speculative poems about the inner lives of napping dogs. She is hopelessly outclassed in the ability to evoke the beauty of warm squares of carpet but does sometimes manage to enjoy the dust drifting in front of the monitor while the fur at her feet snores. She blogs at Moon Pools and Mermaids Moon Pools and Mermaids and welcomes reader's comments.