Yes, she smokes in her car. What of it? But only in the Walgreens parking lot, and only to spite her husband of twenty-odd years.
POEM OF THE WEEK
Alva Watches the Previous President Fly Away
By L.S. McKee
The past is never a peaceful transfer. One leader watches as another is forced to flee.
ENTER TODAY
Narrative winners and finalists have gone on to win honors including the Pulitzer Prize, and have appeared in collections such as The Best American Short Stories.
See the guidelines.
FICTION
Devil’s Child
By Farnaz Fassihi
In order to reach the clinic, if you could even call it that, Sima and I had to take four taxis and one bus from our dorm at Tehran University to the city’s southern slums.
Winter Issue
FICTION
FICTION
FICTION
Winter Issue
FICTION
A Small Blip on an Eternal Timeline
By Ifeoma Sesiana Amobi
My family came to America when I was one, and in my tiny luggage bag my mother stuffed dreams too large for me to carry.
FICTION
The Rage of the Squat King
By Rick Bass
What would make a sane, much less an educated, person want to watch such blood sport?
FICTION
The End of Life
By Yoon Choi
He thinks with joy and conviction that the Japanese are his enemy. It is a wonderful thing to have an enemy.
FICTION
FICTION
FICTION
You Can’t Keep Going Like This
By Shane Delaney
I appreciate the Plunge is special to you, sir, the guard said. But it’s special to everyone else too.
FICTION
Naming
By Yelena Furman
I sensed that a name defined who I was and would be in the future. Renaming myself was a little like being reborn.
CLASSICS
POETRY
POETRY
CLASSICS
The Joy of Writing and Other Poems
By Wisława Szymborska
I’m working on the world, revised, improved edition, featuring fun for fools, blues for brooders.
POETRY
Miracle of Lights / Ode to My Imperfect Love
By Sara Brickman
Olive oil and paprika slant, just a little bent to the eye that’s looking.
POETRY
from “The Last Bohemian of Avenue A”
By Yusef Komunyakaa
Sweet talk an antihero with wet kisses on his eyelids, saying, Come over here & lie down.
iPOEMS
READERS’ NARRATIVES
CARTOONS
iPOEMS
Feathered Cup
By Shangyang Fang
Read this beautiful, dreamlike poem—a complete universe on a single screen.
READERS’ NARRATIVES
Washington, DC
By Jonathan Fink
My wife calls to say my daughter’s eye is out, initially suspected lost on the National Mall.
CARTOONS
Cartoon Art Volume 2019-12
By Various Artists
New art and humor by Seth Fleishman, David Rowles, Mick Stevens, Julia Suits, and P. C. Vey.
