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  1. The night before I marry you, I start to have a panic attack. Are you filled with dread too? Does the word forever sound like the end of time?
  2. I want a bath to calm my nerves, but someone’s already showering in the hotel bathroom. Steam billows out of the open door. A groundhog named Raúl stands in the tub with his eyes closed. Hot water sprays on his face from high up. He slowly massages a cloth around his neck in circles. He looks at peace. In the height of my mania, I think about shouting, “More like shower hog!” but it feels wrong to startle the groundhog. And for what, a story, a cheap laugh? I close the bathroom door so the groundhog can remain in his pleasure.
  3. Let the groundhog dream his dream. Let water be water. Shut your eyes.


Joe Aguilar is the author of Half Out Where. He lives in Worcester, MA. Website: joe-aguilar.com
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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