by Yusra Amjad

when my cat died, he almost didn’t.
the day before his last he was stronger
than ever, the purr back in his throat and
the happy squint back in his eyes. that is how
i think of my life. how i was almost happy but
then i wasn’t. how we were almost friends 
forever but then we weren’t and how
various boys almost loved me but then
they didn’t. my father was almost my father
but then he wasn’t. the sun almost came up
tomorrow. my therapist says im almost clinical 
but i’m not. i keep my dreams under my eyelids 
and every night they almost come true. 
when i lose the fight with my own mind
tell my mother i almost won.

Yusra Amjad is a Pushcart-nominated poet and comedian from Lahore, Pakistan. She is also a Fulbright scholar, currently pursuing her MFA in Poetry at Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has appeared in Crossed Genres, Cities+Secrets, Where Are You Press, Rising Phoenix Press, The Noble Gas Quarterly and L’Ephemere Review, and The Aleph Review. She was also a finalist for the inaugural Zeenat Haroon Prize.

Marisa S White is best known for seamlessly stitching multiple photographs together, weaving her own personal narrative through surrealistic and fantastical imagery. Marisa has received numerous accolades for her art, has exhibited across the US and in Europe, and is collected internationally. Her work was recently featured at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California. She currently resides in Colorado with her husband of 10+ years, whom she fondly refers to as Captain Awesome, and their two fur babies.