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THE HERB
SELECTED POEMS BY AISA ALYASIRY (ISA HASAN AL-YASIRI), AN IRAQI CANADIAN POET
BY SALIH J. ALTOMA
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SEARCHING OUT DEATH IN SEVEN PANTOUMS
POETRY BY STEVEN MAYOFF
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A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE
BY MARK DWORTZAN
That Monday morning, as Sandcastle Court's 200 lawns glistened beneath the spray of automated sprinklers, and their proud owners drove off to distant workplaces, summer camps, and shopping centers as if business as usual still made sense, I made an executive decision... | read |
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SHORT STORY | THE LAST LION
BY N. NEWMARK
The Rebbe Mendel Gross had fallen asleep at his desk again. He dozed slumped over some tenth grade exams. In his dream he was young once more, standing on... |
read |
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POETRY | TRIPLE YOUR TROUBLE
BY JUDITH CODY
Feeling pain is not great, agreed? / Feeling pain you feel when / someone you love cares means / ... | read |
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MEMORIES | GUELPH IN THE AFTERNOON, 1989
BY ANTON BAER
To tell the truth. To remain within nodding distance of the facts, which run away from you effortlessly. To drive after them living people, who are much more unwilling... | read |
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WRITING LIFE | WHY I WRITE
JAMES ROBISON
I'm lonely but I dislike the company of other people and this puts me in a hellbox. MoMA just now has the de Kooning show and a reviewer somewhere was rehearsing this man's method of work, which was draw, paint over drawing, draw on painting, scrape off some paint-I know I know... | read |
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POETRY | POOR LITTLE CHRISTMAS
BY MARK LAVORATO
He stands behind the colossal red curtains, / an eye through the slit to watch the sold-out crowd... | read |
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SHORT STORY | THE FIRST HEARTBREAK
CATHERINE UROFF
My mother had her favorites: dark chocolate, lightly salted cashews, Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Diamond, silver jewelry, Shalimar perfume, black coffee, red wine, the Chicago Cubs... | read |
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SHORT STORY | THE STRANGER IN THE SNOW
BY NELS HANSON
After Jodie Johnston left Nevada with Johnny on his bus, she called from hotels the mornings after shows, excited and eager to report...
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POETRY | LAUREN NICOLE NIXON
dear claudette, the fact of the matter is that echoes... | read |
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BORGES AND CALVINO RACE FOR BLOOD SAUSAGE
BY DAVID BUTLER
On a hot summer day in 1967, the blind and infirm Jorge Luis Borges challenged his healthier and much younger protégé, Italo Calvino, to a one hundred meter foot race on the main thoroughfare in Buenos Aires, Calle 9 de Julio... | read |
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ESSAY | MAX FRISCH
BY MALCOLM FORBES
One hundred years ago Max Frisch was born in Zurich. He died twenty years ago in the same city. In between he got out and travelled widely, and in 1952 lived in the US and Mexico on a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation... | read |
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CREATIVE NON-FICTION | I WAS 16...
BY SEAN CHRISTOPHER LEWIS
I was 16 in 1994. I remember I had a crush on a girl at my high school named Stacy... | read |
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THE WRITING LIFE | POETS' CORNER
BY LOUISE CARSON
First let me tell you what I'm not referring to.I'm not referring to that section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey where poets, playwrights and writers from Chaucer to Hughes are buried or commemorated under plaques or white marble busts...| read |
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BOOK REVIEW | ALONE IN WAITING
BY MALCOLM FORBES
On "The Blindness of the Heart" by Julia Franck | read |
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SHORT STORY | WE CAN'T ALL BE GODS
WILLIAM FARRANT
When my best friend Nigel and I were fourteen we started a band. Neither of us played a musical instrument. So my father took promo photos for us instead... | read |
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POETRY | VILLANELLE FOR MOM
BY WILLIAM LYCHACK
My mother passed them on to me, / These keepsake things I so adore... | read |
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CREATIVE NON-FICTION | BOB/O
KRISTEN BROWNELL
"His name is Bobo." My brother Bobby and I looked up from the Nintendo. Our parents had given us the new game console for Christmas, and we had been glued to... | read |
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SHORT STORY | INNER RHYTHM
BY MICHAEL BURNS
Gabriel Hunt filched one of the stuffed grape leaves his wife, Caroline, had made for the dinner-dance tonight. He bit into it and discovered that it contained a rice-raisin filling... | read |
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SHORT STORY | CALEB
BY
AMH MACQUARRIE
Exactly one year after the worst of all days, they return. There are seven of them now. There were six when it happened... | read |
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SHORT STORY | OUR BUICK STOPPED HERE
BY LEE MATTHEW GOLDBERG
From the front seat of their car, his daddy reached back and swatted Colt's hand away with a grimace of twisted yellow... | read |
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POETRY | SIMON PERCHIK
What more proof do you need! jagged... | read |
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SHORT STORY | SOMETHING TOLSTOYAN
BY BRIAN CONLON
I wanted to write something Tolstoyan. Something so heavy-handed you, dear reader, would gnash your teeth and roll... | read |
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SHORT STORY | SICKNESS AND HEALTH
BY ROBERT WEXELBLATT
Many affairs of this life are fueled by money but one doesn't think about it unless the gas runs out... | read |
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SHORT STORY | HIGHWAY
BY LILI POTPARA
I am driving quickly. I am trying to outrun the thoughts and feelings racing through my body, in my car with air conditioning and two carburetors, but I'm feeling them organically in my stomach, in my head, in my arms... | read |
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SHORT STORY | AGITPROP
BY LEONID LEONOV
I let my head loll down my shoulder and against the frame of the bathroom doorway... | read |
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SHORT STORY | GREAT LAKES FOUNDRY 1990
BY JAMES ROBISON
In a used bookstore I buy a self hypnosis guide for a quarter and take it under leaning clouds to my apartment and in the spring afternoon I hypnotize me, going down the dark staircases of my ego... | read |
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SHORT STORY | COOKIES
BY LEE MATTHEW GOLDBERG
The chosen movie to begin Janine Acorn's annual slumber party for her Senior Flower Patch Scout Troop was Glengarry Glen Ross , a pick from Janine herself, thought to be motivational required viewing for any young Flower Patchian... | read |
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AMANTES SUNT AMENTES |
S. K. AND J. Lo
BY DAVID BUTLER
Soren Kierkegaard had a mad, crush on Jennifer Lopez... | read |
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TRAVEL NOTES | SE VENDE/FOR SALE
BY CHRISTOPHER FLYNN
El Pipila and the MEGA store, revolution and commerce, welcome visitors to San Miguel de Allende, México... | read |
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SHORT STORY |
A SHORT DISTANCE BEHIND US
BY DORENE O'BRIEN
Jodie and I have been operating at the intersection of I Love You and Fuck Off for the past year, fighting and forgiving at breakneck speeds. We're both tired, but apparently not too tired to crawl into a cramped economy car and head west together... | read |
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THE WRITING LIFE | STEVEN MAYOFF
Like any good Jewish Montreal boy, one of my most important literary influences is Mordecai Richler. Although I began writing poetry and lyrics in high school, it took many years before I could ever imagine myself as a writer... | read |
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SHORT STORY | BASEMENT PARTY
BY BROOKS REXROAT
That night after basketball practice, I waited until everyone else cleared out of the locker room and I took a shower... | read |
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SHOUTS & MURMURS |
CUT THE ALPHABET TO SAVE THE COUNTRY
BY DAVID BUTLER
The Royal Spanish Academy recently removed two letters from the Spanish alphabet. I applaud this action... | read |
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SHORT STORY |
THE LIGHTBEARER
BY CARL BLOOM
What is faith, without a little test now and then? Like the camper striking his flint into a pile of damp leaves, "The next spark will get it going, for sure!" Even if his thumbs start to bleed... | read |
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TRAVEL NOTES | MOROCCAN HOSPITALITY
BY SALMA RUTH BRATT
Tourists to Morocco can never get enough of Moroccan hospitality, and they never neglect to mention it in their travel tales. Moroccan hospitality excites people... | read |
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MEMORIES | WAR SOUVENIRS
BY TERRY BUCHANAN
At the end of the war I left my infants school, Leigh Beck on Canvey Island, and we moved back to London... | read |
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THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY
BY MICHAEL WASHBURN
Marc Broussard never imagined that his wedding would be such a fiasco... | read |
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POETRY | SHARON SIEGEL
Crisp, frigid air... | read |
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SHORT STORY | A GOOD SAMARITAN WILL STOP
BY JOHN WENKE
"Got to go. He's here." His shiny gold Toyota Avalon stops in the middle of the curved street... | read |
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POETRY BY
REBECCA PARSON, JIM TOLAN,
ROBERT WEXELBLATT, SIMON PERCHIK, ERNESTINE LAHEY
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CREATIVE NON-FICTION | GOAT
BY LAURIE STONE
Twice a day I walk a three-mile course on a country road that banks the art colony where I am staying and where Joe, one of the writers, practices letting go of anger... | read |
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SHORT STORY |
DELI
BY STEVEN MAYOFF
Sandor Weintraub, known to everyone as Sandy, stood at his usual station behind the counter... | read |
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CREATIVE NON-FICTION | THE DAY OF THE ULUA
BY KIRBY WRIGHT
Jeffrey followed his big brother Ben through the horse pasture. The pili grass was tall and still wet with dew... | read |
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CREATIVE NON-FICTION |
LEAVING MOJAVE
BY CAROLINE MISNER
A woman approaches me in the McDonald's parking lot in Barstow California. Her weathered skin is as black as the asphalt... | read |
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CREATIVE NON-FICTION | CITY OF ANGELS
BY KATHLEEN ROHR
On April 29, 1992, a jury acquitted four white Los Angeles Police Department officers seen on a videotape beating... | read |
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SHORT STORY | WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD
BY ROLAND GOITY
The World Series is on the tube, Phillies and Rays this year, and I try to muster a care from my spot on the couch... | read |
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SHORT STORY | SKINNY TRIANGLES
BY MICHAEL BURNS
Ian McKenna's brother-in-law, Brian, was suddenly in the doorway of his study, a cigarette in one hand... | read |
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SHORT STORY | SILVERADO
BY NELS HANSON
After the deer hunters from the college in Kootenay dropped me off the station master said the bus for Sleeping Child Lake wouldn't arrive for two hours and I crossed... | read |
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SHORT STORY |
GRAPEVINES
BY JACKIE ZOLLO BROOKS
She had gone through something but she wasn't sure what it was. She liked to name things. She was a writer... | read |
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SHORT STORY | LEARNING TO FLY
BY NADIA BRAKO
Last summer, as my son and I embarked on our first camping trip alone together, everything went wrong... | read |
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FICTION | THE ASSEMBLY OF EQUALS
BY DAVID TAUB BANCROFT
I am writing to protest the article written about me in the latest issue of your journal. The offensively titled... | read |
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FICTION | THE SILVER LINING
BY THOMAS SULLIVAN
Hello. I hope that retirement is treating you well. This correspondence is both an apology and... | read |
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POETRY | ROBERT HILL LONG
The night she left America on the ferry north... | read |
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SHORT STORY | BETWEEN THE BOOK AND SHAPIRO
BY ERIC MARONEY
Shaul Shapiro stopped leaving his house on busy... | read |
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SHORT STORY | "SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL, YES"
BY SHAWN MITCHELL
The man was browsing for a bottle of wine for his dinner... | read |
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STORY | ONE MORE THING
BY JOSEPH GRIM FEINBERG
When Robert A. was born, his parents decided to introduce him early to all the wonders of life... | read |
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POETRY | JON STOCKS
The moon rises behind the tall birch trees... | read |
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STORY | BLUE FISH
BY PETER BASSON
Officer Gary Harding shouted up the stairs at his son: "If you're not down here in two minutes, I swear, Bobby..." | read |
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FICTION | MORTY AND IZZY
BY DAVID BUTLER
The Mordecai Richler and I.B Singer Yom Kippur Bagel Papers... | read |
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POETRY | JANICE D. SODERLING
He stepped into the room like the fog drifting down... | read |
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STORY | CHURCH GOING
BY CAROLINE ARDEN
In early January, Catherine was pulling laundry from the dryer when she discovered her swimsuit balled... | read |
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POETRY | HUGH FOX
Blunt stone casements and Hi-Def days... | read |
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STORY | THE GRAND CANYON
BY KATIE RYAN DAHLSON
Sherry had been good to him... | read |
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STORY | RUNNIG
BY PETER LUCAS
We made camp on the edge of the vineyard, under the gnarled arm of an oak tree... | read |
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STORY | WAITING
BY JENNIFER BLAIR
During the eulogy, Lila's eyes drifted up to the vaulted roof, as if it might be possible to detect the exact shade of sky... | read |
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STORY | GENDER OF THE NOUN
BY MELISSA TANDIWE MYAMBO
I'm going straight to the subway. I'm just going to ride the trains until my brain settles down because right now... | read |
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CREATIVE NON-FICTION | SMOKE
BY JERROD E. BOHN
I'm standing outside a bar with some friends, enjoying a beer while they switch back and forth between... | read |
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STORY | THESE HEART THINGS ARE UNPREDICTABLE
BY LORRI VODI RUPARD
Surprise. It's the alarm you feel at your own... | read |
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STORY | CONFESSION OF AN ADOLESCENT ARSONIST
BY ROBERT WEXELBLATT
The trouble began when Uncle William took an old chest of drawers on the Antiques Roadshow... | read |
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STORY | ROWING
BY JENNIFER BLAIR
The man across the street was dead. That was all he knew... | read |
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STORY | THE GHOST LIVES
BY ANTHONY JONES
When The Ghost was a young man and had just begun to wear his armor to go on nightly patrol his wife stopped him once and said something that-even in middle age-he couldn't forget... | read |
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POETRY | RICHARD FEIN
Screaming, "Harry, Harry, God he's only five," as she ran towards me... | read |
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STORY | FRAGMENTS
BY JESSICA PETER
Henry has been working for ten hours without rest, but it will be quitting time soon... | read |
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STORY | GOD BLESS US ALL (PART ONE)
BY TAYLOR GOULD
I have fingers that dance with hers, and I hate her for forcing this on me... | read |
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STORY | ANTHEM OF ANGST
BY SEM MEGSON
Deafening was the guitar chord that shot into the night... | read |
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POETRY | SKITCH AND OTHER POEMS
BY AMANDA PAPENFUS
Hang on like he'll keep you... | read |
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STORY | SWEET AND SOUR HUNGARIAN MEMORIES
BY HARVY SIMKOVITS
Mom and Dad were survivors of the Great Depression and WWII in Eastern Europe... | read |
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STORY | GET WELL SOON
BY ERNESTINE LAHEY
"We had no choice, Mrs. Walker. Your life was in imminent danger..." | read |
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SHORT STORY | THE PICNIC
BY JANICE D. SODERLING
The whole afternoon an Indian summer brilliance had gleamed and glistened. Now black clouds... | read |
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A FAIRY-TALE STORY | HOW LATE THE MOON
BY CONOR McDONNELL
Once upon a time, Grahnmalle the Wolf decided he'd had enough of the way things were and the way they were supposed to be... | read |
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POETRY | SOLE EXISTENCE
BY JUDY STODDART
the psychotic old man... | read |
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POETRY | THE MOST PERFECT STATE OF WATER
BY RICHARD KREITNER
The most perfect state of water is when... | read |
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SHORT STORY | SUN LIGHT ON GREEN HILLS
BY JOHN LOWRY
Greg was looking for a job on a Saturday, in a cold rain... | read |
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SHORT STORY | "HALF-LIFES"
BY BILL TEITELBAUM
For about a year, I think, or perhaps a bit more, my dear Evelyn had a love affair with someone named Paul... | read |
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POETRY | SEVEN ACTS OF MERCY
BY JON STOCKS
First he would salvage the old photographs... | read |
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POETRY | HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
BY PATRICK BRALEY
On the day that we had been together... | read |
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SHORT STORY | HIGH SPEED AFTERNOON
BY BRIAN J. GUTTMAN
My heart is pounding faster than ever before as I sit here in the passenger seat of a speeding bullet... | read |
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POETRY | LILIES FROM JAPAN
BY PAUL A. TOTH
Up the Pacific Coast Highway... | read |
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SHORT STORY | "SNOWED"
BY MARY BAXTER
I hate to bother you like this. Sheila smiled at the customer while she listened to her mother apologize over the telephone... | read |
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SHORT STORY | "THE PREMONITION"
BY JULIE BERNHARDT
My ex-boyfriend, Jason, grins at me. His perfect smile, minus the front teeth overlapping slightly, is all too familiar... | read |
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SHORT STORY | "DON'T GET COMFORTABLE"
BY WILLIAM FARRANT
On a date I was asked what I thought the most important thing in life was. I struggle with questions that have over-arching, deeper meanings to them... | read |
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POETRY | "BEESWAX VOCAL CHORDS" AND OTHER POEMS
BY CAROLYN McGEE
We sing, voices together feeling the resonance with our blind sight one that comes only with sweet harmony... | read |
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SHORT STORY | THIS UNRELENTING FUTURE
BY TAYLOR GOULD
And as I continue looking at him, I notice the way his fingers thin and ball, the frail bone canvassed by surplus skin, the knuckles round and thick. I continue to look at him... | read |
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SHORT STORY | "THE FATE OF THE ALPHA"
BY KIM BANNERMAN
A miserable wind slapped, pummeled and bit at the doctor as he climbed from the deck of the SS Joan onto the bobbing rowboat... | read |
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PROSE POEM | "PET POEM"
BY JANIS BUTLER HOLM
This poem wants to howl until you return. This poem wants to jump up and down as you open the door... | read |
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SHORT STORY | "BIG TALKER"
BY ERNESTINE LAHEY
"Shoot him", she thought one day. "Shoot the bastard, then he'll shut up." Her first thought was to aim for a shoulder or a foot. But she put that thought right out of her head... | read |
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POETRY | "HAPPINESS" AND OTHER POEMS
BY TAYLOR GOULD
Mom your son is home. Dad your son is home. Ten months gone fighting the good old war... | read |
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SHORT STORY | "UNLIKE THE BURBS"
BY DANIEL PEARLMAN
Francesco at thirty-five loves his job, loves his life, and on his way to work he whistles to the sparrows on the telephone wires and wishes he could stroke the soft red breast of that hungry little robin pecking around on Mrs. Alvarez's lawn. It's nice living only ten minutes from your job, unlike his relatives out in the burbs... | read |
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POETRY | "FOG-BORN"
BY DAVIDE TRAME
These words of doubt in the mind and silence, looking out of the train window... | read |
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SHORT STORY | "WRENS"
BY LORRI RUPARD
There was no rain for five days; everything in Georgia turned to dust. That's all it ever took. And Jan has zero common sense... | read |
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POETRY | THREE POEMS
BY CATIE KING
New Day; Life Amongst Children; Dear Brother | read |
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PROSE POEM | HONEY, CAN YOU HEAR ME
BY JAMES TATE
Alison stared into the mirror and combed her hair. How
beautiful she was! "I look awful," she said. I bent down and tied my shoe and hit my head on the coffee table on the way up... | read |
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SHORT STORY | THE CLARINET
BY ZDRAVKA EVTIMOVA
"Don't take my clarinet, Metto, please," Ivan said. "Do you remember when I played on it for your father? The old man's heart wasn't good, and his nerves were even worse..." | read |
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POETRY | THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS |
BY ZOYA MARINCHEVA
Scattered helter-skelter on the ridges of perception, phantasms of freedom plague the order of life... | read |
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