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
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
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. . .
to Heather Treseler, Laura Foley, and Avia Tadmor, the top three winners, and to all the contest finalists.
See the full list here.
RECOMMENDED READING
Butterfly
By Vivian Ludford
The American laughed a little—a high, tinkling sound—and then sighed deeply into the massage table as Butterfly pressed down on her spine.
FICTION
FICTION
FICTION
FICTION
Kartika
By Neha Chaudhary-Kamdar
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
New laughs with hellish cutlery, unexpected aspirations, a crack surgical team, some sisterly demands, and a tunnel of swift love.
