University of San Francisco's Student-Run Literary Magazine
by Abigail Jensen I’ve never known anyone to get excitedat the sight of a penis, says the privileged cis lesbianin all her honest beauty and gloryafter throwing back a shot ofoverpriced vodka. She rests her forearms on the sticky barand whips her head in my direction.I glare back while the others chuckle. Whenever we stumble… Continue reading Tall and Narrow
by Luke Horsey this city was meant to be the surrogate father of the prankthat was played in my first love’s arms, back on the north London fringe in my teensand now you’re recycling the joke: it may well have been salt you were rubbing into my backas I folded in your arms like a… Continue reading poisson d’avril
by William Watson No matter how much I try to savour the taste of my rich life, I stall. Yet time continues. After anguishing over a date change, I question why I fail to transform with the passing minutes, the hydration and thirst of my body, and the rising and setting of the sun. I’m… Continue reading The Fly, the 8 Ball, and Me
by Sean MacPhee So, Abby, there’s this boy. There’s this scarf he has. It’s a little big, a little thick, a little soft. Turquoise, which he supposes is his favorite color. It’s four hours away and about four years old, knitted by a girl who he loved with as much of his little fourteen-year-old heart… Continue reading Scarfy
by Jennifer Love I’d become accustomed to the scalp scent of her bowed head when she knelt in prayer before my perch on her desk, which she’d been doing increasingly often since the death-prediction incident. There was a palm-sized, purple velvet pillow for me up here, adorned with gold tassels and surrounded with precious objects… Continue reading Creature, Stirring
by Kyle Lauderman Baileystown never grieved harder than the day Sam Morris let that out-of-towner Ally into his life. Sam Morris was one of us. His grandaddy built Baileystown from the ground up, taking on the inhospitable Nevada terrain and forging this land into the fine, humble town he knew it could be. When Sam’s… Continue reading Mrs. Morris
by Richard Weems When the dog bites into my father’s forearm, I am tempted for a moment to intercede. After all, there have to be more ideal points of attack than that tough strip of muscle. My research suggested the belly was the most vulnerable and scrumptious entryway, but, in the end, I defer to… Continue reading Dog Bite
by Theo Fox Perhaps it was their sad, triangular eyes, or the way their waddling bodies bobbed in and out of the field of view of his binoculars, but every time Eli settled down amongst the heather-dotted rocks to observe the puffins, instead of feeling voyeuristic he felt exposed. The afternoon ocean smashed into the… Continue reading Convergence
by Laine Derr At 51, recalling a weathered father,I order a gin martini, light vermouthw/ a twist. He froze to death on a daylike this, a man no longer a man– The crisp air reminds me of him. Swirling memories, the doctors saypain has tunneled to my wrists, yearsof standing up, bagging and checking,paper or… Continue reading Light Vermouth
by Amanda Vogt I met a boy at the swimming pool once. He was skinny and flat—like all it would take was one jab of my finger to send him stumbling backward, sinking below the ripples of the water. We stood chest to chest, too close to the ledge, his suit dripping icy splashes onto… Continue reading The Swimming Pool
Ignatian Literary Magazine 