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I don't perform the stunt with the fox every day.

Only at festivals.

My father grows angry when I talk like that.

He says, "Sparta is the best country in the world.

It is a privilege to die for her."

My mother tells me to come back with my shield

or dead upon it.

My grandfather fought at Thermopylae.

I say don't expect a second Lycurgus.

The Persian Wars ended long ago.

I dislike sleeping on the cold ground.

I never take risks when we steal food.

(Better a companion than a club-wielding farmer.)

During the ritual beating, I fainted.


Ellie Biswell is a sophomore English Education major at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, MO. When not cramming for tests or writing papers, she enjoys reading, walking outdoors, and penning the occasional sonnet.



Ellie Biswell
Current Issue
16 Dec 2024

Across the train tracks from BWI station, a portal shimmered in the shade of a patch of tall trees. From her seat on a northbound train taking on passengers, Dottie watched a woman slip a note out of her pocket, place it under a rock, strip off her work uniform, then walk naked, smiling, into the portal.
exposing to the bone just how different we are
a body protesting thinks itself as a door out of a darkroom, a bullet, too.
In this episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with Vivian (Xiao Wen) Li to discuss her foray into poetry, screenwriting, music composition and more, and also presents a reading of her two poems published in 2022, 'Ave Maria' and 'The Mezzanine'.
Issue 9 Dec 2024
Issue 2 Dec 2024
By: E.M. Linden
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 25 Nov 2024
Issue 18 Nov 2024
By: Susannah Rand
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
Issue 11 Nov 2024
Issue 4 Nov 2024
Issue 28 Oct 2024
Issue 21 Oct 2024
By: KT Bryski
Podcast read by: Devin Martin
Issue 14 Oct 2024
Issue 7 Oct 2024
By: Christopher Blake
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
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