by David HargreavesPhoto by David HargreavesThe Whimbrel’s Bill Dune slogging, each step floundersas if drunk—the earth once seemedsuch a sure thing beneath my feet. Hiking the sand road to the ocean at dawn, here, the North Spit, eons agowas sedimentary rock—so much...

by Scott T. StarbuckIllustration by Zyanya CittalliBeached Whale wasn’t dead but sheriff feltbeyond savingso I sat near her eyeuntil life-light faded. Whale came backin my dreamslike stirred embersof driftwood fire. Dream-whale swaminto my dying father,mother,...

by Tor StrandPhoto by Annelie TurnerDepot To Another Form of Existence When the cape trail ended and I couldn’t,I climbed from its edge— light formed oceanlike a story being read aloud— you lie in the crook of a lip-shaped treeand read poems— ours can be simple,a soft...

by Dzvinia OrlowskyRed In 2020, I would have believedthe red bird anchoring itself on the lowestbranch of the slumping lilac bushin early March came to show me that bright beauty exists where you least expect it, that I still had time to see, fear-free, a coastline of...

POETRYby Celia Easton KoehlerIllustration by Annabelle Bullock this is an intersection the picnic table arranges spaceconstructs a room gravel island between street and railroad towing enforced at all times once red now pink tow truck gonefishing aspens wiggle &...

POETRYby Jasper BeckPhoto by Viggo BeckParasaurolophus Song maybe like a saxophone playedthrough cranial crest, crooningheartthrob blues, but scaled up,so much bigger than us, we assumethey ruled the earth. maybe like a bull elk bugle, a teenage beastmoaning horrible...

POETRYby Kit EvansPhoto by Daniel TankersleyNewberry Lava Love Lemon vodka on the lips, your huge handwrapped around my whole fist, hurdlingthrough forested slopes in my Jeep.The pines end. Pocked rock starts.Petrified lava flows from 7,000 years ago.Tortured trees...

POETRY BY Trinity HerrPhoto by Camden JonesControlled Burning It blisters down to boundaries —marked and measured. Dig the fire lines wide — wider, even, that the breadth of our campfire,the metal ring circling it —these rounds we rest on. Whoever’s in charge, please...

POETRYby Jackson Mills SmithPhoto by Jackson Mills SmithSmall Thirst Some stand along a snowbankat the pass and knockthe powder from a Douglas firlike a five-piece band on Highway 26. Having tested and pried and workedin many faiths, there’s a partnerwho’s not always...

POETRYby Sam BovardIllustration by Sam BovardSpitting Distance Yellow ore-rich dirt spilled outfrom the long-abandoned orifice,where men once toiled blindlyto bring silver into the sunlight. As wereached the final basin above the mine,the misty rain lifted to reveal...

POETRYby Holly MitchellIllustration by Daniel TankersleyIguana Rain We sipped sweet cortados from paper cups,taking a long weekend in Miami. Even the bread meltedin a cubano spilling avocado. So many peoplehappy to fritter away the winter on Mid Beach,where the one...

POETRY BYWhite-Headed Eagle, Audubon Plate XXXI What other mooncan I clawfrom the river?Barn Owl, Audubon Plate CLXXI Do you see me as foxes see stars,above and blinking?Or have we eaten enough meals togetherto know we’re both ghostsof this river valley whose current...

POETRYby Donna HendersonPainting by Donna HendersonIn the Great Basin, First Day of Spring (Summer Lake, Oregon)   The storm smashes the marsh grasses, whips up the willows, crochets then unravels the lake’s glossy lace. Snow whirls in billows of rice-like noise,...

POETRY BY Geffrey DavisPhoto by Rick HafeleSelf-Portrait with Stingers Sometimes I question the blessing of each window opened to pain’s awkward but certain approach, of rewriting my name in tenderness without converting this body to smoke.    The first hit: I watched...

POETRYby Kimberly BlaeserPhoto by Rick HafeleSpring Aires A fen where the earth blooms red.As mists part, I pause—awake now. Two sandhills, three-toed strut strut,slit of beaks tilted, point skyward— to sing in a wet forgotten languageone made of spring and hollow and...

POETRYby David HargreavesPhoto by David HargreavesComfort Zone North Spit, Coos Bay, Oregon Four-wheelin’ tire-track donuts scara pristine Oregon winter beach,smoothed by the tide’s retreat—obscene, you might think,but not to the habitat threatened Snowy Plovers....