Dream

The power to summon a cloud of moths. The power to knit with strands of lightning. The power to chop off your arm, kiss it like a brother, plant it in the dirt, and so grow a new life. Take that life and run, be the fireman in the cabin that so beautifully burns.

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Devil

The owl didn’t care who talked about her or what the rabbits might say, strangers, after all, with their mouthfuls of salad and the weakest of souls. A rabbit’s just a meal you don’t need yet.

Robert McDonald’s first book, A Streetlight That’s Been Told It Used to Be the Moon, is coming in late 2026 from Roadside Press. His work has appeared in 2 Rivers View, Action/Spectacle, Painted Bride Quarterly, Silver Canyon Review, The Madrid Review, Tabula Rasa Review, and West Trade Review, among others. He lives with his husband in Chicago.

A Song for Robert