University of San Francisco's Student-Run Literary Magazine
by Sam Burnette The church stands tall against the nothingness around it, spires sharp as they reach toward a cloudless sky. It reminds Stark of the castles in the stories his mom used to tell him. She’s dead now. Electrocuted by faulty wiring. His Uncle Hayes said she would’ve lived if her heart weren’t so… Continue reading A Sacrifice for the Rat King
by Thomas Elson They took no classes together, and, after that first year, never attended the same school, but somewhere, inside the scattered years of their lives, there were yearbooks. He drives more slowly than he used to, even more slowly today, through the empty school parking lot for the first time in fifty-eight years.… Continue reading Years & Yearbooks
by Daniel Pié Susan’s question lingers in her unmistakable, raspy alto as I approach the portico entrance to the mortuary. My legs quake under the weight of unsaddled emotion. My hollowed-out stomach creaks, needing to be fed but allowing nothing to enter except for the occasional piece of dry toast. I slip a thumb behind… Continue reading Obituary
by Mila Danilov I wake to darkness so opaque, I can’t see my hand in front of my own face. My limbs are clammy with salt-water air and I inhale the smell of my skin. It doesn’t smell of anything but residual bug spray. No warmth or familiarity. In the darkness, I can see a… Continue reading Juene
by Hannah Epstein I first properly met Madeleine at a birthday party in Teresa’s backyard back in the sixth grade. Before that, we had only seen each other in passing when our teachers would have us leave the school building in neat lines for recess. When I saw her back then, before I really knew… Continue reading Madeleine
by Jessica Hsu I wanted to write a story. In a book I’d read, a little girl traversed the galaxy with a young woman. I wanted to write a story like that. Instead, I was stuck here. If this refrigerator in front of me was a planet’s surface, would it be like one of those… Continue reading The Dinner
by Kelly Talbot Leticia stood by the window, eating a bowl of oatmeal and studying the blue jays outside. As they hopped among the tree branches, they alternated between cackling harshly and singing pitch-perfect notes. Leticia wondered how many other types of birds had such a vast repertoire. Of all the birds... All the birds!… Continue reading After the Apocalypse, Day 3
by Lena Beck 5:50 a.m. Gina filled the kettle with tap water and rested it on the stove coil. After flipping a switch to the left of the stovetop, the coil lightened to a warm red. She pressed her hands together and looked around. Everything else was done. Each square formica table was pristine: napkins… Continue reading Lunchtime at the Spaceworks Cafe
by Jos Burns The shop was carefully arranged, a dimly lit, fragile ecology in the damp evening air. Handwritten price tags dangled from thick cotton string, a casual denial of barcode technology. A few candles burned on a desk in the back, shedding almost as much light as the heavily shaded incandescent lamps. The shop… Continue reading The Transaction
by Katherine Hughbanks A bell above the door jingled, announcing Mark’s entrance to the shop. The din of rain and traffic outside hushed as the door stuttered shut, and a peculiar combination of eucalyptus and lilies greeted him, the scents taking up the space of the tiny store. He lowered the soggy newspaper he had… Continue reading The Blossom Shop, 1982
Ignatian Literary Magazine 