Contributor: Kyle Heger

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As I pass these wonders —
the startling white of an
egret in suspended animation,
the electric blue of a Ceanothus
vibrating against a bank of green,
the flash of a blackbird's epaulet,
gifts of a kind providence — I
resist the urge to linger, afraid
that my presence here will abuse
these signs of trust, sending them
back to nothingness, or, worse,
turning them into caricatures or
their own opposites.


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Contributor: Kyle Heger

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Smiling through
spent smoke from
nine pastel-colored candles,
the education professor
cuts a slice of chocolate cake
and sings Happy Birthday
to his lover’s lover’s son
as the table slides
into a California
sunset.


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Contributor: Kyle Heger

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Our fortunes told by invertebrates’
wings and viscera splattered on a
windshield, we weave down stretches
of highway pulled taut between signs
bearing the names of peace officers
fallen in the line of duty, following
stepping-stones created by the footprints
of clouds while dust devils dance on a
tired topsoil; oil rigs dry-hump exhausted
wells and middle-aged executives with
golf-course tans get a jump on the
three-day weekend, playing leapfrog
with each other in luxury cars, shrinking
away to the vanishing point on an asphalt
conveyor belt, sucked happily toward
the blast furnace of dreams with a
sickening slurp.


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