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Everything, she thought,

is an accident of where you are.

STEALING HOME BY KAY BONTEMPO 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 78

Two bell peppers, Muenster cheese. Cauliflower, a pack of Newports, Tampax. Martinelli’s apple juice. Paper towels two-ply. English Breakfast tea. Boil-in-a-bag rice, paper clips, ramen noodles. Maybe some ice cream if there was money left over. America’s Choice vanilla, eaten straight from the carton. It wouldn’t be bad. With an uncomfortable pop, he pulled out of her and lay beside her, breathing hard. It was 11.52pm. She wondered if the Shop’n’Save would even be open.

Which children should I tell you about?

TELL ME ABOUT THE CHILDREN BY LEE BRODA 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 78
No, I don’t want children / I heave, pushing my voice / between split lips / a moment passes. the air is still, a vacuum of silence / but why? his eyes widen, judgment bruising his face.

Where did we go wrong?

IUD BY CARLY SCHAELLING 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 78
I want to tell her about this horrible day, I want to cry my pain into her ears and hear her comfort me, remind me I am strong and safe.

I am lost in the world of birds around me.

MY BIRDS BY MARY KATE WILCOX 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 78
An intense dread flooded my body at the sight of the birds, followed quickly by burning, all-consuming anxiety, an anxiety I still have, all these years later. Birds? They were and still are my obsession but in those days I only imagined birding not bird cages.