LAZULI LITERARY GROUP
  • ABOUT
    • Our Literary Aesthetic
    • Staff
    • Contact Us
  • AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought
    • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 1 >
      • HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY by Joanne B. Mulcahy
      • PROTOCOL NINE-NINE-NINE-NINE by Kenneth Hanes
      • LESS' MORE by TWIXT
      • POINTLESS MR. PROBST by Beatriz Seelaender
    • ARCHIVES: VOLUME 2 >
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 4 >
        • SYLVAN PASSAGES by Dan Wood
        • SISTER ALONE by Janet M Powers
        • CENTURY 2.1 by Alan Flurry
        • CLAIMED BY THE SEA by Sam Reese
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 3 >
        • CROSSHATCHING by M.K. Rainey
        • LULLABY by Barbara Daddino
        • HOUSEMOUTH (and other poems) by Anhvu Buchanan and Brent Piller
        • THE RESIDUE IN PUBLIC TEA AND COFFEE CUPS by V.B. Borjen
        • SYZYGY (and other poems) by Malorie Seeley-Sherwood
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 2 >
        • DRAGONFLIES: A DISCOURSE ON ANXIETY by Lara Lillibridge
        • AND RICHARD BURBAGE ALSO HAD A SISTER by Freya Shipley
        • THE WATCHERS by M.K. Rainey
        • JAZZ INTERACTION WITH SYMBOLS by Sarah T.
        • SPIDER (and other poems) by Natalie Crick
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 1 >
        • ECHOES by Daniel Freeman
        • MAPS by Susan Brennan
        • EDGAR'S FATHER'S MAGIC WORDS by JWM Morgan
        • LOCKJAW: IN TWO ACTS by James Blevins
        • WHAT THE LIVING DO by Susan Wadds
    • Archives: Volume 1 >
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 10 >
        • SUSURROS DE RECURRENCIA by Franco Strong
        • THE OLD MAN by Sarah T.
        • PERMUTATIONS by Laura Cesarco Eglin
        • WORLD PEACE 3 by Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 9 >
        • LITTLE GHOST by Danny Judge
        • THE LAST ALLUSIONIST by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • CHURCH by Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 8 >
        • DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS by Nancy Flynn
        • WHAT I COULDN'T SAY by Erika Ranee & Diana McClure
        • ZIXIN AT DINNER from THE SPEECH OF FLOWERS AND VOICELESS THINGS by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 7 >
        • BRASS TYRANT AND THE AMERICAN THIRST by Kirk Marshall
        • CLAP, CLAP BACK by Anders Jones & Diana McClure
        • LADY KILLER by Monika Viola
        • THE RIBBONS by Ferguson Williams
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 6 >
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (ACT 2 - Part 1) by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • NEW AGE UNCAGED by Frank Light
        • IMMIGRATION/INTEGRATION by Jaret Vadera & Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 5 >
        • THE TRIALS OF TOBIT by Joseph Lisowski
        • LIKE MANY GIANT FOOTPRINTS (and other poems) by William Doreski
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (ACT I) by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 4 >
        • WARDENCLIFF by Barbara Daddino
        • BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY by Reg Darling
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (LIBRETTO) by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • A VERSE, 2 POEMS & A THOUGHT by Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 3 >
        • LAWTON, OKLAHOMA by Mark Lawley
        • TWEETY BIRD'S GRACE by Diana McClure
        • CONTAGION AND THE DINNER GUEST by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • ON POETRY AND PROSE by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 2 >
        • LETTER TO THE EDITOR by Alex Mosiak
        • NOVEL EXCERPT from THE SPEECH OF FLOWERS AND VOICELESS THINGS by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • A CONVERSATION by Diana McClure
        • TWO MICE IN A BLACK BOX & THE DECONSTRUCTION OF LANGUAGE by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 1 >
        • CHARACTER SKETCHES by Diana McClure
        • SEASONS ON A GRAVESTONE by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • COCKTAIL PARTY by Diana McClure
        • DESUETUDE by Sakina B. Fakhri
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • CONTESTS
  • LIBRARY SHOP
  • SUBSCRIBE

AZURE

A Journal of Literary Thought

Volume 2, Issue 3
(2017)
Submit to AZURE

Volume 2, Issue 3 (2018)

CONTEST WINNER: SHORT FICTION
CROSSHATCHING - M.K. Rainey
Picture
"It came one day as she sang in the choir. Or maybe it came after, when she was alone in the vestibule. Or the chapel. Or the corner store with the caramel chews she liked so much. It came in the meadow with the blue winds that tousled her hair. Or it came between the tussocks and cattails as she dipped her sooty fingers in the creek, fishing for mudbugs. It came with the chains that clanked and the horses that whinnied, the goats wanted nothing to do with it. It was plucked and pulverized and jammed with the jams that lined the cellar walls. It came stuffed in her father’s knapsack, but did not leave when he did. It came with the wood blocks and bits of string and stuffed toys and all the infinities of childhood. It came in a cloudy reality. It came and it came and it came and it-"

SHORT FICTION
LULLABY - Barbara Daddino
Picture
"Rosalie swinging back and forth inside the glider. All by herself. The empty chair on the opposite side. Forward and back along a flat plane. Unnatural not to swing in an arc. Why doesn’t it swing like swings in the park?"

PROSE POETRY
HOUSEMOUTH (and other poems) - Anhvu Buchanan and Brent Piller
Picture
"...Night bleeds into more night and I stare at evening’s walls. There is a dialogue between the parts of my body keeping me up. Eyes try to lullaby but worry sings the nightingale’s song. Faith departs my belly and eventually thoughts swallow me whole. When I finally sleep I dream the Red Sea parts but everyone forgets how to walk so all the fish die for nothing. My hands awake and remember to look for the morning. My back is an endless desert filled with cacti in the shape of saints. Dear bed, who prays for me?..."

SHORT FICTION
THE RESIDUE IN PUBLIC TEA AND COFFEE CUPS - V.B. Borjen
Picture
"Something swoops down towards me from the milky sky, snatching me back from the aimless mental eddying: a pigeon bangs its body and flaps its wings against the window pane of the winter garden. Is that us, banging our bodies against the actuality of life? I ask. Another shadow rushes past on the left, then turns with a spin like a gyrating dervish: ‘What would You like?’"

POETRY
SYZYGY (and other poems) - Malorie Seeley-Sherwood
Picture
"we
burn ourselves each day
on the smokescreens
of sphinxlike sacrifice.
the fall never far from mind.
 
nothing, of course,
can come from nothing--
lest your fortunes be marred.

What shall Cordelia speak? too much
and not enough. "

Customized illustrations for all published pieces are provided by Evgenia Barsheva.
AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought is a sponsored project of New York Foundation for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
© Lazuli Literary Group 2018  
|  diana.lazuliliterary@gmail.com / sakina.lazuliliterary@gmail.com  |  847.970.2506 
​  
Illustrations & Logo by Evgenia Barsheva  
Donate
  • ABOUT
    • Our Literary Aesthetic
    • Staff
    • Contact Us
  • AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought
    • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 1 >
      • HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY by Joanne B. Mulcahy
      • PROTOCOL NINE-NINE-NINE-NINE by Kenneth Hanes
      • LESS' MORE by TWIXT
      • POINTLESS MR. PROBST by Beatriz Seelaender
    • ARCHIVES: VOLUME 2 >
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 4 >
        • SYLVAN PASSAGES by Dan Wood
        • SISTER ALONE by Janet M Powers
        • CENTURY 2.1 by Alan Flurry
        • CLAIMED BY THE SEA by Sam Reese
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 3 >
        • CROSSHATCHING by M.K. Rainey
        • LULLABY by Barbara Daddino
        • HOUSEMOUTH (and other poems) by Anhvu Buchanan and Brent Piller
        • THE RESIDUE IN PUBLIC TEA AND COFFEE CUPS by V.B. Borjen
        • SYZYGY (and other poems) by Malorie Seeley-Sherwood
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 2 >
        • DRAGONFLIES: A DISCOURSE ON ANXIETY by Lara Lillibridge
        • AND RICHARD BURBAGE ALSO HAD A SISTER by Freya Shipley
        • THE WATCHERS by M.K. Rainey
        • JAZZ INTERACTION WITH SYMBOLS by Sarah T.
        • SPIDER (and other poems) by Natalie Crick
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 1 >
        • ECHOES by Daniel Freeman
        • MAPS by Susan Brennan
        • EDGAR'S FATHER'S MAGIC WORDS by JWM Morgan
        • LOCKJAW: IN TWO ACTS by James Blevins
        • WHAT THE LIVING DO by Susan Wadds
    • Archives: Volume 1 >
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 10 >
        • SUSURROS DE RECURRENCIA by Franco Strong
        • THE OLD MAN by Sarah T.
        • PERMUTATIONS by Laura Cesarco Eglin
        • WORLD PEACE 3 by Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 9 >
        • LITTLE GHOST by Danny Judge
        • THE LAST ALLUSIONIST by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • CHURCH by Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 8 >
        • DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS by Nancy Flynn
        • WHAT I COULDN'T SAY by Erika Ranee & Diana McClure
        • ZIXIN AT DINNER from THE SPEECH OF FLOWERS AND VOICELESS THINGS by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 7 >
        • BRASS TYRANT AND THE AMERICAN THIRST by Kirk Marshall
        • CLAP, CLAP BACK by Anders Jones & Diana McClure
        • LADY KILLER by Monika Viola
        • THE RIBBONS by Ferguson Williams
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 6 >
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (ACT 2 - Part 1) by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • NEW AGE UNCAGED by Frank Light
        • IMMIGRATION/INTEGRATION by Jaret Vadera & Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 5 >
        • THE TRIALS OF TOBIT by Joseph Lisowski
        • LIKE MANY GIANT FOOTPRINTS (and other poems) by William Doreski
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (ACT I) by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 4 >
        • WARDENCLIFF by Barbara Daddino
        • BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY by Reg Darling
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (LIBRETTO) by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • A VERSE, 2 POEMS & A THOUGHT by Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 3 >
        • LAWTON, OKLAHOMA by Mark Lawley
        • TWEETY BIRD'S GRACE by Diana McClure
        • CONTAGION AND THE DINNER GUEST by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • ON POETRY AND PROSE by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 2 >
        • LETTER TO THE EDITOR by Alex Mosiak
        • NOVEL EXCERPT from THE SPEECH OF FLOWERS AND VOICELESS THINGS by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • A CONVERSATION by Diana McClure
        • TWO MICE IN A BLACK BOX & THE DECONSTRUCTION OF LANGUAGE by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 1 >
        • CHARACTER SKETCHES by Diana McClure
        • SEASONS ON A GRAVESTONE by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • COCKTAIL PARTY by Diana McClure
        • DESUETUDE by Sakina B. Fakhri
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • CONTESTS
  • LIBRARY SHOP
  • SUBSCRIBE
✕