I closed my eyes and

tried to see life like you did.

LOVE AND PHILODENDRON BY PATRICK SEAMAN 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 83

We saw an old couple resting on a bench, their bodies sighing into each other, and you cried for tenderness. We saw a group of city children rooting in the mud, their faces lit with primal wonder, and you cried for innocence. You saw a row of ducklings trailing behind their mother in a sickly pond ringed with algae and you cried for motherhood.

Walking up to the fire I thought well, everything’s gone.

A FIGHT AT THE FIRE  BY CHRISTOPHER HEFFERNAN 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 83

Fire trucks were lined up on the street. Parked this way. Parked the other way. A whole bunch. Maybe a dozen. No sirens or anything. The red and white lights whirling around on the brick.  A bunch of firemen were on the roof where a plume of smoke billowed out from a hole as though the whole building was a chimney. Someone would yell up a ladder or yell down from the roof. A loud whistle, a hand gesture. Radios crackled. Some windows on the top floor were broken and the flames reached for the night sky. Walking up to the fire I thought, well, everything’s gone.