The best of Writer Beware: 2021 in review
We’ve lost Joan Didion
JK just won’t leave it alone
Vampire Chronicles author Anne Rice has died
The most important skill is failure
New imprint, Winning Team Publishing, launched by Trump acolytes
First Nail
by Brendan Constantine
I take your portrait down to clean / and notice the scar of another / hanging, painted over.
Thirteen
by Rebecca Foust
I was thirteen, and there was a boy’s mouth / where my legs met.
Satin Nightgown or Flannel Pajamas
by Claire Scott
Suspended between lover and caregiver and not doing either / especially well.
Changing Hearts
by David Watts
I heard for the second time / the news of his heart transplant, / details like a post card from a foreign country
Ecru
by Oak Morse
We were all one beautiful blend / of mama’s love. My brother, / the color of ecru, the other one / sepia, and me, ebony.
Lunchtime at the Café Buade, Quebec City
by Barbara P. Greenbaum
There is a woman in the booth next to us. / She looks at me as I remove my new hat.
Elegy for a Living Mother
by Renee Agatep
When she finally dies / she’ll meekly ask God why was it all / clattering highchairs, whiskers on stained sinks
Jenner Stones
by David Watts
At Jenner-by-the-Sea we scurry / over boulders to the place / where the breakers bear down
Abeyance
by Rebecca Foust
I made soup tonight, with cabbage, chard / and thyme picked outside our back door.
The Figure
by Joseph Fasano
You sit at a window and listen to your father / crossing the dark grasses of the fields
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:
Difficult Joy
by Brian Glaser
Open Contests
Lascaux Vol 8
by Stephen Parrish, with the editors of The Lascaux Review
