by Peter Mladinic My dog’s life with eyes closed seemsmore comfortable than with eyes open,I thought, this summer morning, recallinga fall afternoon I looked into those eyesand saw eternity, and felt eternity’s warmth.What is forever? That momentthat not even memory will bring back.
by David Sapp Jim and I certainly weren’t colleagues. He finished a pharmacy degree, and I was an art school dropout – and couldn’t afford Kenyon. I drove a twenty-year-old Ford. He had a flashy new sportscar. He counted pills. I stocked shelves. He said, “That’s a pretty big word…
by Phibby Venable blue ridges, path loose with mud,a halo of fog grayingin a new daythe old womanlaid out her firethe night before,in the rusted woodstove,that still spokeout flames each morning,and sang out cold,as she listened, trembling the newspaper toward warmthe old woman, always in smoke and daydreams, worn outand…
by James Croal Jackson I found you at the bottomof the stairs looking up to whatI thought was me but past metoward the white ceiling thatconceals the sky where wehave watched the birds oftengo to a better place whenthe temperature dropsI held you in my handsstill warm in your finalmoments…
by Rachel Lawrence Godfrey It is springtime here on Grace Island. Still gray and dreary, but the temperatures are warming and we had three days in a row with a break from the constant Pacific Northwest drizzle. The air smells different, crisp and fresh, and buds are coming up on…
by Cidney Mayes “A Heart Destined to Wither” is an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. A favorite contract of mine: the mortal’s ruinous craving for riches. Everyone knows that gold lasts forever, but hearts such as his are destined to wither. – Margin Note…
by Coryna Pido “Home” is an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. She stalks away from the store, a bundle of Cempasúchil being promptly watered by a river of tears streaming down her face. She remembers every Sunday being dragged to service where she learned…
by Maureen Winemiller “Mr. Sunshine” is an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. Walter Schmidt hurried up the cement path that led to the modest bungalow on Pine Street. He had lived in the run-down house for almost forty years and knew the walkway like the…
by Nannette Vernon “Across the Vast and Unforgiving Landscape” is an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. The sun glinted off a car in the distance, a little blip of light, an occasional shimmer along the dull gray highway dissecting the vast Wyoming plains. The…
by Sara Carey “Swallow” is an honorable mention in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. This story contains sensitive topics. Before me, on the bathroom counter, sat two translucent orange pill bottles with no labels. I stood with my back against the subway-tiled walls. My best friend Olivia…