sakura

Breakfast   Grant Burkhardt
The gravity of tenderness   Karen E Fraser
Neighborhood Ed Brickell
Iris Robert Rice
Frederick the Night Blooming Cereus Valerie Hunter
Mother, Sister, Daughter, Sakura Vikki C.
for Now   Tylyn K. Johnson
Sublet Emily Kedar
At the Edge of Hope Kersten Christianson
Final Measure Ellen Malphrus

Fiction

A Strong Man Jennifer Mills Kerr
Sweet Sorrow Jennifer Geisinger

Visual Art
Early Blossoms in Spring 2 Jacelyn Yap
Early Blossoms in Spring 3 Jacelyn Yap
Early Blossoms in Spring 4 Jacelyn Yap
Seattle Sunrise Lindsey Pucci

Cover Image
Early Blossoms In Spring 1 Jacelyn Yap

Micropoems

In the leadup to poetry, we shared a series of micropoems across social media:

sakura micropoems

June 8, 2023

Breakfast

Grant Burkhardt

June 8, 2023

sakura micropoems

In the leadup to our eighteenth issue ’sakura’, we shared a series of micropoems from our talented submitters:

I didn’t ask for these feelings, please make them go away – Ivy L. James

Seasonal Bonfire – Anne Jindra

On Fire Spirits / Pixies Dance – Jaden Fong

a slow burn – A.C. Cambers

Feasting on the Fire – Moonmoon Chowdhury

Aurora Borealis: a legend – Karen Pierce Gonzalez

We Serve Our Due – Sean Cordes

Welded Woman – Brielle Perry

[Hope] – K.A. Watters

June 8, 2023

delicate petals creak open
slower than snowflakes falling
in an airless, lavender sky.
wide-eyed stamens quiver, waiting
patiently to be pleasured by bees.
stems of ear-shaped leaves
silently unfurl a lush fullness
in blinding verdant greens.
the light of life remains fully switched on,
fizzing with moon-neon phosphorescence,
ever emergent, ever consuming, gifting and
receding in waves that spiral through
an inescapable fragrance-
a constant, unnameable
yet deeply known by the gentle heart.

Karen E Fraser

June 8, 2023

Vikki C.

Poetry Contributor

Vikki C., author of ‘The Art of Glass Houses’ (Alien Buddha Press), is a British-born writer, poet and musician from London, whose literary works are informed by existentialism, science, the metaphysical, and human relationships. Her poetry and prose have been published or are forthcoming in Across The Margin, Black Bough Poetry, Acropolis Journal, DarkWinter Literary Magazine, Spare Parts Lit and others.