The Commons

Literality

by Michael LaRocca
Here one sits. Thoughts race through their mind. There is a desire to create; the fingers begin to move. Sounds, sights, tastes form into what one can believe is valuable, or not. They are released- those senses- into the world. Praised or criticized, they are never enough. One c… Read more

The Stifling Protector

by Melody Lin

It incubates in the cracks and crevices,
making itself at home.

Unwarranted and unwanted.

No one can stop it,
except the host.

But that's rare.

It starts as a seed, if not smaller.
Just an inkling of its approach can set it into calamitous motion
in a plane with negligible frictio… Read more

Great Orange Tips

by Jacynth Apora

The air is pastel cyan and bitter
like a stranger in the spring.
Metamorphosing -
You are an invertebrate
a thick skull is your exoskeleton
impenetrable elegance
no backbone
hollow cowardice
a white fuzzy halo,
rose gold wings of a dragonfly,
mouth of a mosquito, the buzz of a sire… Read more