Editor’s Note

I fixed my lawnmower today. It broke last fall, during the final mow of the season. The thing ran out of gas, the recoil spring snapped, and the pull cord ripped off in my hand, left me with a dangling length of dead rope and the words “fuck it, good enough.” 

But today, I unscrewed the various covers and got oil all over my hands and marvelled at the way a thing can be fixed, can cough back to life just when you’re ready to give up on it (and probably buy an electric like you’ve been meaning to or maybe just dig up your whole lawn and let the clover have it’s way).

And yes, I’m talking about my mower because I can’t bear to talk about war and the state of the world and because what’s a more perfect metaphor for American democracy than a gas-powered mower chopping down grass that dares grow too tall, grass grown from corporate seeds for corporate profits but which probably descended from sprawling fields half a world away or maybe just came from the yard next door.

Likewise, this issue is full of things that, on their surface, may not seem to have larger implications: cat memes, handmade rugs, Iron Maiden, Paris Hilton, middle school, and even lawn care. Start reading, though, and it’s clear that these writers are urging us to see past the surface, to see into the aching core of things. This issue is also full of grief and inflicted traumas and the treatment of women and girls and the mundane collapse of democracy. And the world won’t be entirely repaired once you’re done reading, but you’ll have stepped outside the safety of your cocoon, have looked directly at something. Maybe you’ll even be inspired to get your hands dirty, to make one small fix, to plant even a single seed and let it grow.

Table of Contents

Title	Genre	Writer
Love at the End of the World	Flash Fiction	Diana Fenves
LOLZ	Poetry	Pam Yve Simon
i never wore that bow again	Flash CNF	EA Kane
Lawn Maintenance and Care	Flash Fiction	Lindsay McDonald
The Number of the Beast	Flash Fiction	Colin Bishoff
PARIS HILTON TEACHES ME ABOUT GOD	Poetry	Shae
Beyond the Cocoon	Interactive	Vast Editors