by Dwight R. Hilson Oh, you will love it here; everyone is so nice and friendly, and the nurses on the full-care wing can handle all but the most severe cases—God forbid. There’s almost no reason to leave. I heard you’re in the Dayton Wing. You know, they’re all named…
by Ron Dowell (This story contains drugs/addiction.) Agent Orange tainted weed fucked me up in Nam.Back in the world, drugs retarded me. Ihallucinated and failed a four-way stop sign.My road dog crashed the windshield. I’d go back and changeif I could. Please help me, Jesus. Nobody had told me shit. Lies…
by Russell Rowland Dressed in layers much like us, exceptwith lengthier robes of ice and snow,the stream is concealed, though there.Cold day, yet it means to keep moving. It has swept away an autumn of leaves,cleared out jammed tree trunks, evenstripped a moose carcass—year’s workwell done, by nature’s John the…
by Kelly Cofske (This story contains domestic violence.) As Timmy headed down the drive toward home, he smelled fresh-baked gingerbread in the air. He felt warm inside that Mom made his favorite after-school snack on such a day. Rounding the corner of the house, he headed for the back garden…
by Ray Corvi The funeral parlor opened its front doorOut flew a dandelion’s wind-borne seeds Mourn the way the trees have thrownLimbs branching skyward into leaves
by Ron Dowell after “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Going to Go.” Curtis Mayfield Mayfield lit the torch in black dark, said Keep on Pushing when kept apart from parks, restaurants, movies. My face turned black-hot when called a nigger. So, I love music that interrogates ears, tastes like conflict, has disorder’s stench, a…
by David Vonderheide I remember to the minute the last time I saw snow. My family and I were on a snowspotting trip to New Hampshire, crowded out on the balcony of our Airbnb in the wee hours of the night. A spattering of flakes, embattled with a wispy updraft,…
by Amy Brian Having faith in my socksI leave my shoes scattered somewherein the home’s warm core—underthe tangled feet of the dining room chair, maybe? And step out into the breath of a January eveningto gather in the split timbercontentedly piled by foreseeing stiff and chilled fingersto adorn our front…
by Gina Scott The line, four deep, seems daunting this late in the afternoon. Jenny asks herself if she really has the time to wait, and more importantly, if it’s worth the wait to buy the birthday card she has taken too much time to choose. What she wants and…
by Amy Covel He lost ten poundsand has slowly foundwhere he left them. He left one in his bedduring those sleepless nights,wondering what was wrongand what was right. One he found in the bathroom,carved into the floorfrom all the morningshis feet stood thereas he battled upset stomach. Two more he…