He woke up with a painful crick in his neck from where he had fallen asleep on the sofa. The bottle of whiskey that he had been drinking to celebrate his success of the night before had fallen from his hand while he slept and rolled across the carpet, its contents spilling out and soaking […]
Poetry: Bucha 2022 by Allison Carroll
Bucha 2022 Dark smudges in the sky, or is it black feathers? You see them now. Black birds. Ravens and vultures circling over Kyiv. In the city outskirts, red soldiers are invading. You hear them marching, and the hammering sound is getting louder. You hear frightening gunfire. You wonder who was killed. A family member? […]
Poetry: The Bath by David Sapp
The Bath Something – everything Wrong all wrong I know now I didn’t then I burst in – intuitively Propelled by my Own vague memory There a too familiar Too intimate scene Mother and little sister In the bath together Annulling “perfectly innocent” Mother reclining in warm water Child standing shivering Naked confused paralysis At […]
Fiction End of the Bench by Logan Markko
You’re not a loser until you quit trying, Coach thought to himself, watching as his players pissed and moaned their way to another loss. They seemed half asleep, committing lazy turnovers on offense and arguing with one another instead of hustling back on defense. Thirty years coaching high school basketball and he couldn’t remember a […]
Fiction FEATURED AUTHOR: Ruth Ticktin’s Returned
At a stuffy banquet honoring soldiers who fought the Great War, a man approached Mollie and whispered in her ear. “Casualties, thousands needing immediate treatment. Transporting them to an old monastery. Working crazy, all hours. Death, over and over.” His head drooped low. “Too many dying. We loaded soldiers on stretchers, train cars to makeshift […]
Fiction FEATURED AUTHOR: Ruth Ticktin’s A Visit
“The director of nursing said they were concerned,” Mat wasn’t sure if he’d mentioned this to his uncle but continued anyway, “that you’re more tired and less active.” “Well, there’s that. And my skin’s peeling. Hair’s falling out. Disintegrating, part by part.” Uncle Jack faced Mat with a brief piercing stare before looking down to […]
Fiction FEATURED AUTHOR: Ruth Ticktin’s War Consequence
And the years marched on and on until another war was raging. Ella and Dan had only their youngest child left living at home, and he was beginning high school. Their daughter was in her first year of college, and Ted, the eldest, was on a break from university, traveling cross-country. He told his parents […]
Fiction Tough Guys in Green Hats by Christopher Heffernan
You held the top of the rail by the bar for support, still moving your hips as you tried to get the bartender’s attention to order a drink, shaking just slightly in all that noise near the side before you knew I was there. I was wearing the brand-new green ball cap I had found […]
Fiction Lilydale by Zach Murphy
The waters of the Mississippi River were higher than the high school version of myself on a Saturday night. I willed my rusted sedan down the winding bends of Lilydale Road, nervously hydroplaning through dirty, cloudy puddles. Lilydale Road didn’t feel the way it used to be, because it simply wasn’t the way it used […]