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Poetry

So You Want to Travel the World

Saltwater swamps.

Everything is hostile
but the good news is 
you won’t starve. 

Make a fire.
Find a termite nest and 
tinder.

Eat something.
Fish, infested with parasites
Eels, discharge 500 volts or more
Piranhas, present in the Orinoco
Birds, cunning
Snakes, tasty

Protect yourself
against high tide (also
            crocodiles, water snakes, electric catfish
            chigoe and centipedes
            mosquitoes and leeches
            dysentery, botflies, parasitic fungus
            and the candiru, which will swim up a urethra given the chance)

Don’t: Forget 
           decay is rapid
           monkeys shit in the water
           the candiru has a dorsal spine

Don’t: Think about 
	   dry socks
	   clean teeth
	   hot coffee

In all cases, remember:
	   boil the water	
           cover your genitals
	   leeches will fall off when they’re ready.

Sandra Smith is a freelance editor and teaches creative writing, English, and editing at the university level. Her work has appeared in "EQMM," "Cleaver," "Shotgun Honey," "Sky Island Journal," and "The MacGuffin," among other publications. Her short stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.

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Essays/Nonfiction

Last Day

by Jacqueline Herron

Eye of the Beholder

Intermezzo

by Karen Tongson