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Blue by Loretta Williams

I still miss those pajamas — my hospital pajamas — white with blue roses and thin stripes.  My mother made the pajamas for me when I was seven. It was my first trip to the hospital to see if doctors could divine the odd sloshing rhythm that had made my heart unreliable since birth.  Whatever … Read more

Farbende by Ed Frankel

The iron treadles rock and doven in the flatiron shadows, pressed air and piece work. Hungry hands move like birds. Every week the girl who makes the least gets fired. You march arm and arm with women from the factory, a banner draped across your chest and you sing. Farbende I used to call you—the … Read more

Revelation: A Play in One Act, Philip Charles Barragan II

  Characters   Antonio- Cheerful, 41 year old single Italian man looking for a long-term relationship.He feels numb when the subject of HIV status arises on his dates.He has been positive for eighteen years, and that fact is beginning to make him feel like an outsider in some social situations.He hates dating for this reason.He … Read more

Summer 2008

Two Hawks Quarterly Issue 2 – Number 1 – Summer 2008 __________________________________________________     A Letter Not Sent Kristine Ong Muslim Are They Real? Virginia Silverman Avoiding Her Art Eugenie Theall BLOCK Darby Bailey Bread & Tablecloths Sergio Ortiz Childless Eugenie Theall Defeating the Forces of Café Amore Laurie Barton FAMILY OWNED R. Neal Bonser Forever 18 Casey Cohen Mulling Spices Jennifer Bradpiece ORBIT … Read more

Bread & Tablecloths by Sergio Ortiz

                                                       for Lawrence King, 1992-2007 Teens bully deans, bash desks like Queens christen ships, graduation gowns break out in a gospel song, to heal neglected punched lips; boys grow … Read more

ORBIT by Melissa Mason

And it seemed that, just a little more—and the solution would be found, and then a new, beautiful life would begin; and it was clear to both of them that the end was still far off, and that the most complicated and difficult part was just beginning. Anton Chekhov The Lady with the Little Dog … Read more

Reversal of Aging by Laurie Barton

My clarinet squeaked in a chorus of sick geese. No hope of migration. Ann-Marie was the princess. Spiky hair, holey jeans. Mickey Mouse bounced on her bosom-parade in the hall. Tara flanked her like a glossy-lipped guard dog. Keeping the riff-raff away. She tortured the school’s only Mexican girl. “Hey monkey-face, Is it true that … Read more

Mulling Spices by Jennifer Bradpiece

A little of this, a dab that, we dish out our frustrations through asthmatic breaths. Mine are served up lightly seared with mint garnish of leafy discontent in a raspberry coulisse of delicate rage. Yours boil and pop in a single constant earthen pot, simmering silently most of the time, now and then bubbling up … Read more

TAGORE’S KISS by Shome Dasgupta

The echoes in Kolkata’s Albert Hall Cafe were vibrant and gloomy.As I sat at a table and read Tagore’s “The Living and the Dead,” the indiscreet murmur of the room settled into my head rather than Tagore’s words.I folded the top corner of the leaf and closed the book.I looked around the cafe, which seemed … Read more

Spring 2008

Two Hawks Quarterly Issue 1 – Number 4 – Spring 2008 __________________________________________________ Between the Bells Gina Maria DiPonio Bugs Morgan W. Strauss Catch Diana Corbin Crawl, Toddle, Walk, Run Darby Bailey Dancing Zachary Ash Dead Man’s Nail Dennis Fulgoni Dichos, and the Things my Mother Told Me Philip C. Barragan II Dining Alone Darby Bailey … Read more

Dichos, and the Things my Mother Told Me by Philip Barragan

    A Thousand Sad Pieces        Golden light created a soft waterfall through the dense canopy of trees in the mountain village, filtering through the early morning mist rising from the valley below, falling sporadically on the roof of his adobe home. It crawled gently down the walls looking for the window … Read more

Time to Repaint the Barn by Darby Bailey

Shielded from a westward sun that could burn Through ripply glass circa 1899 Mandy the puppy buried open, no urn Covered above in sweet pea vine The shadows of Cottonwood trickle and turn White soft stars of dandelion Fall in the shade of the big red barn Next to a Kern’s jar filled with turpentine … Read more

The Masked Boxer by Marykate Linehan

It was 13 years ago. I am 9 years old. It is a sweltering summer. The ocean breeze arrives right before sundown. The neighborhood children and I have gathered to play Flying Colors. We are choosing teams. A younger, filthy boy (resembling Pig Pen) walks up to me. “ Girls can’t do anything!” Hunter says … Read more

Making Movies by Martha Woodroof

I was 21, living in Houston, and appearing in a play called Fire, when Robert Altman came to town to film BREWSTER MCLEOD, a now mostly-forgotten movie that was now mostly-forgotten actor Shelley Duval’s debut. Rumor had it Mr. Altman had plucked her from behind the cosmetics counter at Foley¹s department store. Well! I thought. … Read more

The Queen’s Greens by Darby Bailey

As a dandelion In Her Majesty’s lawn   I cannot bow I was born erect   My use a child’s butter chin game Whether Prince or gardener’s daughter   My fate is of the ruler of the green   In age I grow gray And shatter in the wind   May my greens Taste good … Read more

Crawl, Toddle, Walk, Run by Darby Bailey

  I am scared to step over the edge of the pier I tell myself      When I get there I will be happier      When I get there I won’t remember feeling bad      When I get there I’ll have more control   I tell myself to not look back   … Read more

Bugs By Morgan W. Strauss

            Instead of thinking about Sonny, his traveling companion wishes she were in Spain.  How far of a drive is it from Granada to Barcelona?             Twenty miles south of Fresno a sign says Visalia 24 miles. Sonny pilots the car with dirty hands, a torn shirt, an unintentional beard, last … Read more

Winter 2008

  Two Hawks Quarterly Issue 1 – Number 3 – Winter 2008 __________________________________________________         Untitled Jacob Lasham I've Known Rivers Joseph McGonegal Incurring Telaina Morse Eriksen Finding Beautiful Karissa Chen Rain Season Loretta Williams Status Quo Eric Rydquist Hatchet Devin Galaudet happymeat.com Kim Hutchinson The Farm Fresh Egg Hunt Eileen Hodges The … Read more

Petra by Robert D. Montoya

I’d watch you cook with your manteca in your brown-tiled kitchen fuzzy chanclas, paisley-printed muumuu dress. *** We found that curly black wig in the hall closet You started crying We were just pretending. *** We’d sort the gravel from beans Eat potatoes, skin-on Raw and sandy We never talked. *** We didn’t need to. … Read more