Audio By Carbonatix
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Cottonwood Creek is rising, it is rising again.
The dying sun burns a hole through the opal sky.
Heavy air smothers the copper earth;
dark furies churn the waters.
There is no time to wait for Mama’s return.
Half-dry laundry must be taken down from the line,
piled into a basket and placed on the highest shelf.
Your voice trumpets orders to the others.
Strip the beds! Stack the mattresses and covers on
top of the piano!
Gather the shoes and coats!
Load them on top of the bedclothes...
Collect some changes of clothing.
Be ready to move to higher ground
the minute Mama gets back.
But she must hurry.
In a few days when you return,
Robert will help Marcellus push the piano
onto the L-shaped stoop to dry.
You and Ethel will help Mama
wash down the walls and disinfect the floor.
The things that cannot be redeemed
will have to be discarded.
It will be weeks before the sun's benevolence
dries out the farthest corners of your lives.
Nora Mendoza, a world-renowned artist, focuses on many subjects from large abstracts to women and the plight of the underprivileged in numerous mediums, and has exhibited her work internationally, gaining much recognition.
More of our 2025 Fiction Issue:
“Cottonwood Creek” by Nora Chapa Mendoza
“Fair Trade” by Aaron Foley
“The Colored Section (after Gary Simmons’ sculpture: Balcony Seating Only)” by La Shaun phoenix Moore
“In The Silence of the Ruins, We Speak” by Ackeem Salmon
“Thin Air” by Jeni De La O
“In th Mornings” by V Efua Prince
“More Than 1 Thing.” by Joel Fluent Greene
“Sacred” by Brittany Rogers
“Crossing” by Sherina Sharpe
“Smoking with Emmett Till” by Lucianna Putnam
“ancestry.com reveals i am 24% spaniard” by jassmine parks
“The Dream of a Passenger in Peril” by Joshua Thaddeus Rainer
“Séance” by Zig Zag Claybourne
“SECOND HAND SMOKE” by Satori Shakoor
“Untitled” by Lauren Williams
“The Cameras are Always Rolling Until…” by Natasha T Miller
“The New Detroit, circa 2115” by Kahn Santori Davison
“Where Dreams Gather Dust” by Na Forest Lim
The print edition of the 2025 Fiction Issue is set to publish June 25.
