Tending tiny miracles until they split the pavement.

The present is clay, sitting cool and wet in the palm of your hand. Squash it, twist it, mold it. Shape it into something beautiful.

Reckoning 5, edited by Leah Bobet and Cécile Cristofari, concentrates on acknowledging the wonder of our environment as it is right now.

Featuring poetry, essays, fiction, and art by Hana Amani, Cécile Cristofari, Leah Bobet, Julia DaSilva, Marlon Hacla, Kristine Ong Muslim, Anthony Pearce, Angela Penrose, Christy Jones, Priya Chand, Maya Chhabra, Danielle Jorgenson Murray, Catherine Rockwood, Eileen Gunnell Lee, Liv Kane, S.L. Harris, Riley Tao, Remi Skytterstad, Ashley Bao, Corey Farrenkopf, Jennifer Mace, Sandy Parsons, D. Dina Friedman, Steve Rasnic Tem, Oyedotun Damilola Muees, Joseph Hope, Justine Teu, Tracy Whiteside, Rae Kocatka, Jennifer Mace, and Karen Heuler.

Print release: July 2021

ISBN: 978–1–955360–00–5

Trade paper, perfect-bound. 238 pages; 60,000 words.

Contents

Art

Cover: Reckoning 5 — Hana Amani

Too Hot to Handle — Tracy Whiteside

Nonfiction

From the Editors — Cécile Cristofari

From the Editors: a scribbled note in a water-damaged notebook — Leah Bobet

No More Creepy Crawlies — Anthony Pearce

On the Destruction and Restoration of Habitats — Priya Chand

Facing Medusas — Liv Kane

Poetry

Salvage Song — Julia DaSilva

Mula sa Melismas — Marlon Hacla

From Melismas — Marlon Hacla translated by Kristine Ong Muslim

you said, 'they're making the ground soft' — Christy Jones

Owl Prowl — Maya Chhabra

From the Embassy of Leaks to the Court of Cracks — Catherine Rockwood

when the coral copies our fashion advice — Ashley Bao

photolinguistics — Jennifer Mace

We Have So Little Time Left — D Dina Friedman

Voice of God — Joseph Hope

letters from the ides — Jennifer Mace

Fiction

The Wild Inside — Angela Penrose

Riverine — Danielle Jorgenson Murray

You Cannot Return to the Burning Glade — Eileen Gunnell Lee

Ash and Scar — S.L. Harris

Gingko Biloba — William Tao

A Song Born — Remi Skytterstad

Wash'ashore Plastics Museum — Corey Farrenkopf

The Talking Bears of Greikengkul — Sandy Parsons

Mummies — Steve Rasnic Tem

All We Have Left Is Ourselves — Oyedotun Damilola Muees

SPF — Justine Teu

After Me, A Flood — Rae Kocatka

The Restoration — Karen Heuler

Kristine Ong Muslim

Books