Route 7 Review
​
Issue 7
Cactus Tree Scene, Arizona Smith-Lahrman
Poetry
;Tony Martello
Opposition
Tony Martello
It is in opposition that I suspend between Helios and Jupiter
Lying low in the solar dust kicked up by Helios and her magnetic pulses
Spat out and orbited around into a
A giant cinnamon twist
​
To my back, the warmth of her slowly fades
As she drops below blankets of stardust
that cast a rosy light into the night
A fruitful spatial delight
​
As I lay back, Luna rises in white
Then does her magic as she morphs
Into shades of yellow and gold
​
By the time she reaches the universal roof
She has transformed into a silvery strawberry
pancake that you won’t see at breakfast time
​
Natives from across the land gather crates
and baskets weaved with straw
They plan for harvest in morning to pluck the red berry
that waits with morning dew and drizzly fog beading on the green leaves
of the crop
​
Once a year in June she has a chance to presume
she has a place in space
To steal the light from other planetary delights
Even Jupiter in all his circular might
Entices her with layers of promise that Luna
Can’t escape...
​
She floats to him
Blushing and blooming
With a celestial desire
To be the most adorned body
In the sky
The Ceiling, LiJune Choi
Fiction
Murder Ballads
Jeff Fleischer
​
After brushing a few spare chips into a pile, the portly dealer took the top card from the deck and slapped it forcefully on the discard pile to burn it. He placed the next offering as the fifth card in the middle of the table, and flipped it. The eight of diamonds. If the tavern windows weren’t shut tight, Clive would have sworn he felt a breeze. He tried to keep his expression blank as he revisited his hand and scanned the faces of his opponents.