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Working: Vol. 4, No. 2 - Issue 14 Summer 2025

giggle berries​

Issue 12
There are quiet feuds & giggle berries
out in the woods at the turn
of the season. we crawl
under the electric fence,
roam the unmarked trails until we reach
a pumpkin patch. a cleaving
Gnomes read epistolaries to goblins.
Make love on the wood pile.
Three mice haggle with a fairy bartender
at a tavern made of tires.
An arctic fox tosses a penny 
in a wishing well to be pressed
into a commemorative coin, while
a woodland beast stitches sock
puppets with attitude. 
The fauns make a farewell toast
​with a kiss to each garden creature.      
We sip 1:00 a.m. wine from a water bottle.
Write business plans on discarded napkins.
Go for a hike to hold candid photoshoots,
listening to ABBA vol. 2 from a speaker.
An influencer hangs inspirational quotes
above our names, since millennials
cannot afford halos. Meanwhile,
a taxi driver assigns us nicknames
to wear as fashion statements.
One day soon we plan to eat grilled cheese
on a river bank.

​Jared Wong lives in the Yukon and within the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Ta’an Kwäch’än Council. His work has appeared with Horse Egg Literary, Imposter, Bywords, 7Mondays, Filling Station, Livina, Empyrean, and on sticky notes and fogged on the sides of slurpees.

Copyright © 2025 Empyrean Literary Magazine, L.L.C.
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