Fiction
Nonfiction
Poetry
Contests
Flash
Resources
The Wild Plums are Blooming
by Mark Schimmoeller
The wild plums are blooming. They have bloomed every April since the man moved into the woods.
Paper Saints
by Tommy Dean
I might as well admit that I’m sinking. You know the joke about lifeguards drowning? Rip currents don’t care who they plunge to the bottom.
Museum of Grand Gestures
by Danielle Claro
Employing every classic device in the Grand Gesture toolkit, this work is a stellar model for students of the form.
Career Change
by Lisa K. Buchanan
The mortician arrived last night, well before the viewing, to paint our little girl pretty.
Some Things You’ll Do When You Would Rather Be Happy
by Laurie Marshall
You’ll check the mailbox one last time in case the whole thing was a sick joke.
Three Prose Poems
by Kathleen Rooney
This day could use the excitement of receiving a surprise package. Even better if that package reads THIS SIDE UP.
Caney Fork
by Annette Sisson
Autumn crisps the tapering light, / oak pulls on its auburn duster.
Gratitude
by Scudder Parker
The peonies and gladiolas are more / seductive every fall.
For an Osage Orange Tree (and the names she’ll answer to)
by Angela Winsor
Say Bodark—for a pretty-leafed thing. / Hers are shiny, narrow, smoothed / curves.
Five Pieces to Assemble After the Quarantine
by Molly Lanzarotta
The lover who decides to stay / understands—like you, standing too close on the train— / it’s all about the distance we keep, or give away.
It all began around a campfire…
Beautiful language
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.
Contributor Spotlight:
Love and Hot Chicken
by Mary Liza Hartong
Open Contests
by Stephen Parrish, with the editors of The Lascaux Review