2021 SFCC Literary Review

FERGUS McALISTER

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GHOST STORY

I. Transient The man who turned the tables on temptation Turns his face to the sun in summer But takes his leave in the dead of the year, Keeping to places nobody visits, Preferring to walk when the weather Is fine, but also when it isn’t. Alone, footsore and chilled to the bone, The man who turned the tables on temptation Forgets who he is but knows all along How luck, in time, plays out for everyone: At the end of his road he will come To the place where he seems to be going, And knock at the door where nobody’s home. II. Survivor Five of us were hanged and six were shot, And I, a loner all my life and known To none as one who only lost his light, Survived in darkness for the height of hate And tapped the surface of the ice To sound a way around a world of lies.

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Volume 16 • 2021

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2021 SFCC Literary Review

Articles inside

Joe Navarro, "Word Murals" (poem)

Susana Gonzales, "My Hand Are Getting Softer" (poem)

Beth Paulson, "Les Carrottes Sont Cuites" (poem)

Kelsey Hennegen, "I Shrug Into You Like a Winter" (poem, Pushcart Prize Nominee 2021)

Tim Maxwell: An Artist's Statement and Recent Work

Gail McCormick, "Truth Telling" (creative non-fiction)

Elizabeth Rees, "Tuned In" (poem)

Melanie Lamb Faithful, "Circles of Days" (Art)

Roxanne Seagraves, "To Touch Their Hearts of Gold" (Fiction, Pushcart Prize Nominee 2021)

Oliver Agustin Kautter: Art and Recent Works

Brandon Kilbourne, "Frau Kahnt" (poem)

JesseBob: An Artist's Statement and Work

Sena Chang: An Artist's Statement and Work

Yeva Chisholm, "La Loba" (poem)

Zanzia Eklund, "Winter Sun" (fiction)

Sheena Chakeres: An Artist's Statement

SFLR Interviews Author Kirstin Valdez Quade

Robert Kostuck, "A Brief Guide to September 1980" (creative non-fiction, Pushcart Prize nominee 2021)

Morgan Liphart, "In your brownstone on Mill Street" (poem)

Andreana Thompson, "Mother/Land" (Poem)

Aaron Lelito: An Artist’s Statement and Recent Work

Reshmi Hebbar, "Why Deny the Obvious" (fiction)

Thomas Barth: An Artist’s Statement and Recent Work

Amira Alsareinye: An Artist’s Statement and Recent Work

Fergus McAlister, "Ghost Story" (poem)

Kate Pashby, "victor" (poem)

Marissa Fae Myers, "Fire Burns in the Heart of a Woman" (fiction)

Jennifer Furner, "Female Stamina" (creative non-fiction)

Sharon M. Carter, "Sorting My Parents’ Possessions" (poem)

Bri Neumann, "Nose" (creative non-fiction)

Ollie Rollins: An Artist’s Statement and Recent Work

Pi Luna: An Artist’s Statement and Recent Work

Adele Oliveira, "Ouija" (fiction) (Pushcart Prize Nominee 2021)

Tick: An Artist’s Statement and Recent Work

Yusef Salaam, "Somewhere Nowhere" (poem)

Belinda Edwards, "Grief Bundle" (fiction)

Bethany Carson, "Underwater Explorer" (poem)