Triumph
​by JANIE BORISOV
"I do my best to make appreciating noises, but giant snails and fish guts get stuck in my throat. It's not only that I secretly find this meal slightly dreadful, but the tales accompanying it are bruising my consciousness. Narrating them is my host Abdullah, the father of six young children. When French-backed rebel forces entered Abidjan, he had four. The insurgents took everything there was to take from his house. Beat him up. Raped his wife in front of him. And proceeded to win the war against the prior government..."
Shopping List
​by JORDAN EGELMAN
"The shopping cart test may be the truest test of character. It lies solely on the individual to determine their contribution to society. A functioning member returns the cart, a non-functioning member does not. A good Samaritan may abandon their cart while a deviant returns theirs, but their contribution to the small ecosystem of a supermarket will be felt by all..."
How to Be Divorced in Your Twenties
​by NATALIE ZACHER
"Step 1:
Fall in love with the first person you notice in high school. Fall in love with the way the choir teacher calls her name. The way she is instantly cool because she’s 14 and wears crop tops so everyone knows she has her belly button pierced. Fall in love with the only girl in Pre-AP Bio that isn’t a boring white girl. Fall in love with her from a distance until you talk to her and she’s nice to you! Talk to her more and more and more. Fall in love with her before you even fully realize that you’re gay..."
Hawk Essay: Final Draft
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​by DEE ALLEN-KIRKHOUSE
"Three weeks into the 2021 spring semester, while I wait for a student to realize he is alone with me in the Zoom room, I enjoy the view from my window. My feet rest on my daughter’s old toy box under my desk and a steaming cup of coffee warms my hands. The neighbor’s black and white cat, Bandit, waits..."
Pola Vortex
​by Tricia Knoll
"I am the witch’s tit. My bitch bra is made of silver–not brass. I make ice mirrors
and hand you froth. Call me Pola. Lusty wind diva. Cringe all you like.
Be warned: Jail break! I am no longer stuck to the cloverleaf of arctic. I swoop to
kick ass on your sad little towns, clog your straight-arrow roads..."