Wandering Boy, by Jim Gish—We did not have to turn off the radio. My father told the mechanics, Ron and Pete, that it had a burned out tube. They just nodded. They knew better.
If it Wasn’t for You, by Bill Ratner—I’d be a baby without skin, a parrot / without a little soap-shaped food cake, / a truck driver out of a job.
Don’t Let Them See You, by Anonymous—I will soon be pitching a debut novel, and I want to know how much of an issue my age will be to agents and publishers.
There’s No Such Thing as Writer’s Block, by Wendy Russ—Writer’s block. It’s that phrase we speak tremulously to explain why we aren’t writing or why what we are writing sounds like a page that fell out of a 13-year-old’s diary. It’s a concept that wraps up, in two words, every horrible insecurity we have as writers.
Wandering Boy
Todd
The Science Hour
Don’t Let Them See You
Distance
If it Wasn’t for You
Gospel
Cassandra’s Prophecy to No One in Particular
After That, Try This:
I Will Tell You This Much, and Then We’ll Never Talk About It
is meant to be heard as well as read, and in fact words were vocalized eons before they were ever committed to clay or parchment. Storytelling began around campfires. We seek prose and poetry that continue the tradition.
