Witches Mag, Issue #5: Time

Page 9

New Listings After a year of COVID-mandated telework, few things dig under your skin as efficiently as the ding of an email notification. This time it isn’t work—it’s Zillow. The house we were “eyeing” has sold. They are in the other room working after hours—easy to do when the commute is barely the recommended social distance. I call out with the news and we laugh together at the loss of the lavish future we envisioned in this high-dollar home as we ignored our real budget, our real student debt, our real future, our real present, the real weight of societal expectations. In this light, fleeting, almost mundane moment, a million realities come and go. Time stops and also stretches. We stand together at the precipice, where we’ve been for what feels like eternity. One of us will have to bend, but who? When? How did we get here? We’ve built a whole life together. We’ve built whole careers together—but apart. Now what? Is this our real future? Our real present? Who gets to decide? Me? Them? Our gendered roles? Society expects me to just bend, give up, follow. But do you? The laughter fades. Time begins to move at a normal pace. What is a normal pace anyway? Zillow loads: “Three new listings in your search!” By E.N. Smith 8


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opal jewelry & beckoning bread

1min
pages 120-121

dedication & more info

1min
page 122

littlest apple, big apple, pt. 3

1min
pages 118-119

world standard time

1min
pages 110-111

on the art of conjugation

2min
pages 114-115

38 days

4min
pages 106-109

jac’s diary

5min
pages 102-105

i didn’t know it at fifteen

2min
pages 99-100

waiting room

3min
pages 97-98

clairvoyant monica and the mystery of major

2min
pages 94-95

wo)man’s best friend

8min
pages 88-93

her honor

0
page 87

takes two to tango

3min
pages 84-85

no gods / forgive us our sins

2min
pages 80-82

tiny round belly

3min
pages 77-79

stephanie’s diary

0
page 76

life on a timeline

6min
pages 73-75

scenes from an expiring relationship

20min
pages 59-71

tattoo trails

5min
pages 53-57

time in a vial

8min
pages 44-48

when i was

1min
pages 49-50

great piece about time

0
page 52

thing with the feathers

0
page 39

fuck turning the other cheek

2min
pages 40-41

yellow house

14min
pages 29-37

just one year of love

10min
pages 22-27

four generations of poinsettias

0
page 28

main characters

2min
pages 15-17

maría, a bird

6min
pages 10-13

new listings

1min
page 9

when you find a white hair

3min
pages 6-8

right girl, wrong time

2min
pages 19-20

manifesta

4min
pages 4-5
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