{"id":9159,"date":"2026-02-22T13:54:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T20:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/?page_id=9159"},"modified":"2026-02-22T13:54:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T20:54:46","slug":"issue-131-january-2026","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/?page_id=9159","title":{"rendered":"Issue 131, January 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Read the pdf<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We Caught a Mermaid<\/strong>, Maria Pianelli Blair<\/a>
<\/a>“Her eyes were bright, like midsummer skies; her hair the shade of sugarplums. Until then, only the occasional shark sighting or whale carcass made headlines, folklore banished to the faded murals of selkies and sea dragons that lined Ocean Avenue.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps I’m the Poison<\/strong>, Kayla Kerns<\/a>
“Gouging your insides
A parasite
Spewing eggs and seed
Larva tickling the back of your throat”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Person Who Leaves<\/strong>, Marcus Tsai<\/a>
“At 5 AM, hours before graduation, a river of blood escaped through my nose. I woke licking my lips, tasting Ma\u2019s zh\u016b xi\u011b g\u0101o, its spices and congealed texture, before realizing the bed was wet and cold.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pope of Paris, Mississippi<\/strong>, Tracy Morin<\/a>
“This time, I woke up alone. Hopped the highway from my hotel room, looking for the pope of Paris. Stuff he sold me wasn\u2019t right.Watch for the prowler who bleeds
Rainbows from eyes of cut glass.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narcissist<\/strong>, Matthew Bruce<\/a>
“I am the millipede Mars.\u00a0
They colonized monuments\u00a0
of me before I dropped”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big K Watermelon Kiwi Soda, Patrick G. Roland<\/a>
“I slammed the door of my Grand Am and said I\u2019ll race you. I took off, left her in the dust. She called for me, but when you got Big K Watermelon Kiwi soda on the brain, it\u2019s hard to concentrate on chivalry.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cover art:\u00a0<\/strong>Mask in Flowers, Joshua Willson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We Caught a Mermaid, Maria Pianelli Blair“Her eyes were bright, like midsummer skies; her hair the shade of sugarplums. Until then, only the occasional shark sighting or whale carcass made headlines, folklore banished to the faded murals of selkies and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9177,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9159","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P15duy-2nJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9159"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9183,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9159\/revisions\/9183"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}