Heartwood refers to the tree’s dead core but is what the carpenter seeks for the aesthetic tannin density and disinclination to rot. Sapwood, on the other hand, forms the basis of the bleached pulp rendered into greeting cards, such as those exchanged on Valentine’s Day, a much more terse affair. Pursue not that static gathering of dust!

Let the pulse of these sixteen writers light you a new way.

***

Ruben Baca: “Savior, Crucify” and “The Death of Spring”

Ray Ball: “Improved Starling”

Jerrod E. Bohn: “Little White Wine” and “The Afternoon of Heavy Snows”

Kevin Canfield: “Sonnet for a Point Guard in Winter”

Darren Demaree: “Emily as the Blurbs on the Back of a Popular Mystery Novel,” “Emily as We Do Whatever We Want To,” and “Emily as the Ohio River in 1953”

Bradley J. Fest: “2019.04”

Matthew Bruce: “Bookmarks”

Tricia Lopez: “Trigger Kitchen”

Brandy McKenzie: “Box of teeth,” “What was I saying again?” and “Boundaries and inventories”

dan raphael: “give the moon 3 good reasons” and “Ready’s Anybody Can Be”

Forrest Rapier: “Atlantic Baptism”

Ron Riekki: “($tyx) In China,” “When I Got Out of the Military, I Did a Cartwheel in the Parking Lot,” and “As an EMT, I Saw a Guy”

Savannah Slone: “Glimpsing” and “This Body & Other Cemeteries”

S.E. Swea: “A Father’s Love, and Other Myths”

Stephanie Athena Valente: “Reluctant Gods”

Paul Willis: “California, California” and “The Gathering“