Two Frat Brothers, by Michael J Coene
“Uh-oh.”
“What—what is it?”
“I’ve travestied myself.”
“Umm…”
Love Letter to Brandon Walsh, by Daniel Romo
I had a man crush on you before I was a man, a high school senior
stuck in between popping pimples and failing math, because even
though you just moved to a new school, still dripping in Minnesota
loveliness, turquoise eyes sharper than the depths of every Great
Lake combined
Contributors Notes to Frosted Tips Review: A Journal of Literature and Art, by Anne Valente and Joshua Finnell
ANIRUDDHA AGATE received his MFA from the post office in Hippo, Kentucky. His work has appeared on the shoelace of a 1991 L.A. Gear high-top sneaker, inside the last acorn
stored by a wintering chipmunk, and in a cluster of thistles blooming on Vince Vaughn’s
front lawn. He is currently at work on a handstand.
Boy Talking Back to Houston, by Steve Leyva
In the 90’s
I’m asking how not to be
an apparition
these missives avoided like parents leaving
divorce papers unsigned on the empty side of the bed
(B)ODE, by Lucien Mattison
Bo knows,
but I don’t really
because right now
he fashions
arrowheads
Northern Exposure, by Atar Hadari
That season in New York I watched two lovers
nightly on TV, like friends-
Ballistics, by Hillary Jacqmin
I remember you at thirteen,
smoke-singed, scrawny
as a witch, an embryo
mortared in your gut.
Because They Was Purple, by Tameka Cage Conley
i remember. not wearing sexy panties. then wearing sexy panties. cuz i was grown. and my thighs. and between. glorious purple lace. i saw. possessed
Nothing Compares 2 U, by Abby Reed Meyer
I’m 14, in the back of my parents’ Toyota Camry. My mom is driving me and a friend home from a rehearsal of Hansel and Gretel.
Liner Notes, by Nicholas Ward
Dig, if you will, this picture: me, as a teenage boy standing in front of my suburban classmates, who wear glazed-over expressions of bewilderment and don’t know whether to laugh with me or at me.
I Shall Grow Purple, by Ronnie Sirmans
I won’t wear purple as an old man.
Instead, I say purple is for growing,
Anthem for Paisley Park, by Dante Di Stefano
Because the world is cold-calling you now,
and somewhere the potential of a groove
The King of Purple, by Vincent Gomez, age 12
We rode in his little red Corvette,
while seeing the most beautiful girl in the world.
Backing Up, by Tony Mancus
2016
On the night that the episode of New Girl that Prince is in re-airs days after his death—the one where Nick and Jess tell each other they love one another for the first time—my wife Shannon and I frantically hustle to put on an immersive and interactive show at a stranger’s house in the middle of DC.
Prince Called Me Up Onstage at the Pontiac Silverdome, by Khadijah Queen
Prince called me up onstage at the Pontiac Silverdome & my scary ass didn't go up there my sisters waited in line for hours so we could get good tickets
Could Have Sworn it was Judgement Day, by William Bradley
I had been told to expect about a month-long hospital stay for my autologous bone marrow transplant to treat my recurring Hodgkin’s Disease. I had also been told that my chances for 5-year survival were about 40 percent.
Elegy, by Amorak Huey
So we listen to Purple Rain and try to remember what it felt like to be 14 and plugging cassettes into our jam boxes to brace ourselves for a decade spent pretending to be a human being.