Change is natural—it's beautiful, it's cathartic, it's necessary. But change is also painful, and ugly, and destructive. It's one of life's only constants. You can either embrace it or struggle against it but it's unlikely you could ever stop it.

 

Inside this anthology we are confronted with many different forms of transformation. Some lift the spirit, some crush the soul, and some show the pathway to the future.

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It's difficult to capture the essence of a true metamorphosis, but like the chrysalis, this collection contains the "goo of change," so to speak. These 27 Ohio writers have provided touching and ephemeral poems, intelligent and hilarious nonfiction, and fiction that spans from the distant past to the distant future all while being somehow grounded in the present.

 

We hope this collection of stories, poems, and essays manages to take your breath away, break your heart, and even inspire change in your own life-because there's no time like the present to break out of your shell, spread your wings, and embrace your own metamorphosis.

 

Table of Contents

Wild Animals By James Siegel

Upon The Zinnia Petal By Curtis Deeter

The Hidden By Ellen Austin-Li

The Sisters By Jamie Galioto

Chaoyangia By Dong Isbister

A Place For My Brother By Susan Oelbracht

Spring Forward By Elizabeth Barrickman

Experiments In Living Chemistry By Kelly Ferguson

I Am Gilgamesh By John Graham

On Seeing My Great Granddaughter In The Womb By Robin Mullet

Lump By Devon Ortega

Transparent By Heidi Durig Heiby

Miracle Of The Mass By Charlene Fix

My Patient, My Aunt By Nadia Ibrashi

Mystery School By Nadia Ibrashi

Negala Clouds By Felicia Cameron

The Blown Harp Lesson By Pamela Spence

The Rift By Timothy Doyle

The Guts That Come With Love By Schyler Butler

The Sheriff By George Pallas

Unbecoming By Devon Ortega

Red: A Fairy Tale By Jim Hodnett

The Last Susan By Christina Moore

Aubade By Karen Schubert

Grandma Teague And Me By Stella Ling

At The Crossing By Kathy Nicklaus

Eight Billion Wolves By Jeffrey Mckee

Fair Flip By Charles O'donnell

On The Way To Proximata By Joseph Graves