STORY OF THE WEEK

Order, Discipline, and Decorum By Bill Barich

Order, Discipline, and Decorum

I’d be a useless soldier in any man’s army, so I accepted Harry’s offer. It was devil’s bargain, and I wound up paying for it.

POEM OF THE WEEK

Flooded River It Sweeps By Jacques J. Rancourt

Flooded River It Sweeps

The Bible tells us that God spared Noah because he was a good man but it doesn’t tell us about the ones who all would drown.

FALL STORY CONTEST

FALL STORY CONTEST

We’re looking for short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, and excerpts from long fiction and nonfiction.

Please see the guidelines.

WINNERS AND FINALISTS

Congratulations . . .

Congratulations . . .


to Heather Treseler, Laura Foley, and Avia Tadmor, the top three winners, and to all the contest finalists.

See the full list here.

FICTION

FICTION

FICTION

FICTION

Kartika By Neha Chaudhary-Kamdar

Kartika

On a map south Bombay resembles a woman’s hand extending into the Arabian Sea. We were situated on the outermost phalanx of her finger.

FICTION

Make It Black By Andre Dubus III

Make It Black

Some days after work she pulls her bills from her mailbox and sees him shirtless through the trees, just flashes of bare flesh in the mottled light.

FICTION

The Shortstop By Tom Lakin

The Shortstop

I watched his mouth shape the impossible words: the shortstop, gone, and in return a shortstop who was not our shortstop, the only one we'd ever known.

FICTION

FICTION

READERS’ NARRATIVE

FICTION

Sharpshooter By Jayne Anne Phillips

Sharpshooter

Sharpshooters moved with the troops, but they were loners, known to one another by names that described their eccentricities.

FICTION

Vertical Integration By Spencer Wise

Vertical Integration

On his lunch break, my father dropped by work to stare at me, chest swollen, like I’d really accomplished something by working at Sylvan’s Ice Cream Stand.

READERS’ NARRATIVE

Tangier By Ellenora Cage

Tangier

I often wonder how much of Morocco I actually remember and how much I’ve put together from what I’ve been told.

NONFICTION

NONFICTION

NONFICTION

My Mess of Conflicting Emotions By S. E. Daniels

My Mess of Conflicting Emotions

I get weepy over baby birds who’ve fallen out of their nests. Not exactly the temperament of a stone-cold killer.

NONFICTION

A Pandemonium of Want By Pia Z. Ehrhardt

A Pandemonium of Want

Lately I sleep on his side because now I can. I fill the space where he used to be. How do I fill the space he’s left in me?

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

Aspen, Trembling By Rose DeMaris

Aspen, Trembling

Lambent as lunar matter, damp and tangled under dirt, humming beneath a stand of aspen trees, the one true aspen breathes, births clone after clone.

POETRY

Sugaring Season By Caroline Falzone

Sugaring Season

I have been at home and I have been at home and I have matted the grass and also neglected it until it sprouted soft tips that look like candles.
Drunk as Hell By Matthew Gilbert

Drunk as Hell

Living this deep in the wilderness, seeing a person is more dangerous than a wild animal, nothing for miles but the cicadas’ anniversary.

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

A Turning of the Stairs By Ted Kooser

A Turning of the Stairs

As I remember, those eight or nine steps climbed toward a small, low window, put there by the builder for light.

POETRY

Leaving the Gym . . . By Nick Martino

Leaving the Gym . . .

I take my time walking home, another Spirit burned to the filter. The cars asleep in their silver garages. All the little bells in my blood, chiming.

POETRY

Red Tide By Amanda Maret Scharf

Red Tide

I ignored the shore, my mother calling my name, while below the surface of childhood amusement, another world annexed life.

iPOEM

CARTOONS

CARTOONS

iPOEM

Everyday Ending By Shelley Girdner

Everyday Ending

The air around the corner was a flood of cinnamon like someone had dropped a case of cheap liqueur. It was the end of the world.

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2023-08 By Various Artists

Cartoon Art Volume 2023-08

New laughs with a helpful porcupine, an everlasting question, a tech-savvy frog, a truly hellish job interview, and some workout motivation.

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2023-09 By Various Artists

Cartoon Art Volume 2023-09

New laughs with hellish cutlery, unexpected aspirations, a crack surgical team, some sisterly demands, and a tunnel of swift love.