IN THIS ISSUE: Rachel Adams >> Roshelle Amundson >> Kenny Bellew >> Cat Campbell >> Alicia Catt >> Raymond Cott-Meissel >> Ben Findlay >> Gail Gates >> Brent Giesen >> Kristine Hayes >> Blaine Huberty >> Peter Laine >> Amy Mattila >> Suzanne Nielsen >> Dawn Nissen >> Norah O'Shaughnessy >> Rebekah Pahr >> Sally Reynolds >> Donna Ronning >> Kah Shepard >> Kelly Taylor >> Jonah Volheim >> William Wells >> Jake Wendlandt >> S. A. Victory >> Kate Young >> Alice Lundy Blum >> Natallia Meleshkevich >>

Roshelle Amundson That Girl She frantically marches the plaza. Seventeen steps North,     South,         North, passing    the bus stop,     the clinic,     the bus stop— empty gallon milk jug swinging out before her. Baristas and patrons stare out through the safety of the neighborhood coffee house windows. It’s her- chortling. Did you see that?- laughing. That girl, Miss Mocha Latte Junior says, does that all day. That girl— Sylvia; tattooed arms, legs, face. Tribal patterns connect her eyes like a uni-brow, an effort to keep them on her face, secured. Blaze orange crew cut; manic-panic dress, pinned and duct taped like Anarchy. A girl you’d think punk or mod- except she’s off her meds, again, –sardonically.   Sylvia and her milk jug march up and down the street. Slipshod   Blindly shoving your hand into the smoking coffee-ash-can to find which is,           and then extinguish, the one which smolders,           the one that still burns— deciding that bumble bees aren’t            the ones who sting—                       you think, recalling third grade earth science, you grab the fuscia promise of the peony just below           the bee’s winged flapping, oddly stationary half-flight stance— expand the scissors across the stem in a quick cut, while            the black and yellow buzzes in fury and rebellion. You…         risk-taking green thumb, who smokes cigarettes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Roshelle L. Amundson graduated from Metropolitan State in 2006 with a BA in Professional Communications. She went on to complete an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in 2008. Roshelle is perpetually chasing the dream, but has yet to define it. In the meantime, she continues to live in Minneapolis and performs covert operations to rescue stray and neglected animals.