Eyes wide, legs quivering, sweat glistening, she feels ready to heave. The thick dusty red curtain brushes against her hands but provides no relief. “Why can’t I do this?” rolls from her dry parched lips. Panic and desperation enter her heart like a flash flood. She longingly watches from the side. Her conflicted soul jolts alive with the increasing brilliance of the lights above. Never stepping into view, her shadow begins to spin and sway to the music. Behind the curtain she stands dreaming of the day she too will be the one in the spotlight.
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Print & Digital Issues
Featuring:
Issue 109, published January 2024, features works of poetry, flash fiction, short nonfiction, and photography by Carol Alexander, Lis Beasley, Jack Bordnick Studio, Heather Bourbeau, Michael Daley, Keith T. Fancher, DM Frech, Jeremiah A. Gilbert, Ditta Baron Hoeber, Liz Irvin, Richard LeBlond, S. Frederic Liss, Suzanne C Martinez, Ashley McCurry, Robert McKean, Cecil Morris, J. M. Platts-Fanning, Rebecca Pyle, Jim Ross, Christopher Rubio-Goldsmith, Rikki Santer, Fabio Sassi, Zeke Shomler, Caroline N. Simpson, Gerald Wagoner, Richard Weaver, Tracey Dean Widelitz, and Steve Zimmerman.