Cover of "arc 31: The Phoenix"

arc 31: The Phoenix

Edited by Mike Stone
Cover illustration from quilt art by Tui Wilschinsky
 
You may order a copy of arc 31 at Amazon.
 
Here are a few excerpts from the issue:

Meital Mishory

God of the Grocery Store

I clock in as the god of the grocery store
Four to six times a week
And wear my grace with a sigh
Knowing this is a thankless job

I am not benevolent nor am I fair
I enjoy departing my visitors 
To look for pasta in the soup aisle
Where they might find answers to grief

I grant my prices according to whim
And yet smile all the same
At those who pray to me
A greeting or a farewell 

When I retire from my work as a god
I shall take off my name tag
And pray to my followers 
Hello and goodbye in return 

I will say
May you see me again someday
As the god of something else.

Dina Yehuda

The Next Generation

“And your little ones, of whom you said they would fall spoil – I shall bring them into the land”  (Numbers 14:31)

Our sons and daughters
who we criticized at twelve and sixteen
for wasting the glorious sunshine
playing video games, drones
downing missiles
staring at screens
remote

God knows
they were being prepared
for this day
for these long watchful nights
When we look at the sky
listening for missiles
praying to wake up whole
thanks to our children

They are the generation who will inherit the land.

Or Mor-Yosef

Stone

Stone turns to walls, turn
to rubble. Repurposed as brick.
Ashes to dust. Dust to clay.
We do not know.
Lost. Found. Lost again.
Eternities only exist in our imagination.
We know.
Yet we hope.