First Taste of Fire

The opening stanza of Joel Pompea’s “Junebug Gets the Big One” reads:

I’ve caused so many cubes of ice
To plummet to the floor in the quiet night
And I wonder whether my neighbors have heard
My curses inside their boxes with the lamps turned low
And the shades drawn tight.

The full piece will be featured in our first issue and we are excited to put out this brief yet lush meditation on the lack of intimacy despite proximity and the intangible charm of urban life, all wrapped in a sluggish summer heat.

Photo Credit: R. Powers (http://achicagosojourn.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/three-south-side-commercial-streets/)