STORY OF THE WEEK

Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen By O. Henry

Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen

By O. Henry
No more valiant hero ever fought his way through an enemy. Turkey, chops, soups, vegetables, pies, disappeared before him.

POEM OF THE WEEK

Gift By W. S. Merwin

Gift

By W. S. Merwin
I must be led by what was given to me as streams are led by it and braiding flights of birds the gropings of veins the learning of plants the thankful days

FINAL DAYS TO ENTER

FINAL DAYS TO ENTER
Deadline: Tues., Nov. 30, at midnight, PST.

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

Please see the Guidelines.

BEST OF THE NEW

BEST OF THE NEW

One of our greatest pleasures is publishing first-time authors. Another great pleasure is keeping up with them and continuing to read them as their work grows. Here’s a collection of notable firsts.

Fall Issue

POETRY CONTEST WINNERS

POETRY CONTEST WINNERS

POETRY CONTEST WINNERS

Fall Issue

POETRY CONTEST WINNERS

Saint Markella’s Cathedral and Other Poems By Madeleine Cravens

Saint Markella’s Cathedral and
Other Poems

By Madeleine Cravens
In Astoria, Leo and I find a small church on our way to the river. Inside, saints stare from portraits, fingers raised in code.

POETRY CONTEST WINNERS

Corpse of a Living God and Other Poems By Haolun Xu

Corpse of a
Living God and Other Poems

By Haolun Xu
A memory flies overhead, making a broken sound as it moves through the air. The invisible, crossing, between birth and day.

POETRY CONTEST WINNERS

Eastwood and Other Poems By Leila Chatti

Eastwood and
Other Poems

By Leila Chatti
I try to remember reusable bags for my produce, to reduce my footprint, to check pronouns and my privilege, I try to do my part, to cause little harm.

SPRING CONTEST WINNERS

SPRING CONTEST WINNERS

SPRING CONTEST WINNERS

SPRING CONTEST WINNERS

Whitecaps By Abigail Thomas

Whitecaps

By Abigail Thomas
Ceil feels the sweet shock of his body, his otherness, the muscles in his shoulders and arms. Is this what it is like?

SPRING CONTEST WINNERS

To Save a Butterfly By Sandra Sidi

To Save a Butterfly

By Sandra Sidi
Eylon Itzchaki saw his death every morning. A good bomb tech, Eylon taught himself to relax amid the chaos.

SPRING CONTEST WINNERS

Early Cartography By Debra Nystrom

Early Cartography

By Debra Nystrom
Almost all the kids who survived the place stayed, but the river, shifting its sandbars, was always moving away.

NONFICTION

FICTION

FICTION

NONFICTION

The Desperate Place By Gail Godwin

The Desperate Place

By Gail Godwin
“Couple Found Shot” was the headline in the newspaper next morning. Afterward, we would go over and over it.

FICTION

Ice Cream By Rae Canaan

Ice Cream

By Rae Canaan
Unbeknownst to him, she had been a stone in the shape of a girl the whole time, sinking in her very own ocean.

FICTION

Shattered By Michael Croley

Shattered

By Michael Croley
He had dreamed of being a front-runner, someone who changed lives. The only life he had changed was his own, and lately even that felt suspect.

FICTION

FICTION

FICTION

Freedom By Ha Jin

Freedom

By Ha Jin
He meant to show his superiors that he was not someone they could kick around at will and that he had dignity and principles.
The Toll By Daniel Mason

The Toll

By Daniel Mason
There had been a lot written, he said, about the biology, the epidemiology of the pandemic, but very little on the soul.

FICTION

Sequestered By Tina Nettesheim

Sequestered

By Tina Nettesheim
The more we talked the guiltier he seemed. I mean, even the 911 dispatcher called the cops on him. But it only takes one to hang a jury.

FICTION

FICTION

FICTION

FICTION

Field Notes, Sketches, and Watercolors: Birds of the High Plains By HC Palmer

Field Notes, Sketches, and Watercolors: Birds of the High Plains

By HC Palmer
She takes the paralyzed hand from the pocket and places it on the table.

FICTION

Green By Cristina Perachio

Green

By Cristina Perachio
We come out, and Fake Catalano says we should all go swimming. We can go in our underwear, of course, like he just thought of it.

FICTION

The Bedwarmer By Nathan Poole

The Bedwarmer

By Nathan Poole
Something in me acknowledged that to be beautiful and to be a woman would be costly, but this was worse than what I imagined.

NARRATIVE 10

NARRATIVE 10

NARRATIVE 10

NARRATIVE 10

Ten Questions for Pamela Paul

Ten Questions

for Pamela Paul
My day job is overseeing book coverage at the New York Times and editing the Times Book Review. Writing is squeezed into the margins of my days.

NARRATIVE 10

Ten Questions for Sarah Ruhl

Ten Questions

for Sarah Ruhl
Q: Who is your favorite character in fiction; your fave character in life?

A: Elizabeth Bennett. And in life? How to choose?

NARRATIVE 10

Ten Questions for Saïd Sayrafiezadeh

Ten Questions

for Saïd Sayrafiezadeh
Dr. Seuss has the Shakespearean aspect of being completely beholden to language while also bending language for his own purposes.

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

Caliche and Other Poems By Natalie Eilbert

Caliche and
Other Poems

By Natalie Eilbert
As for loneliness, I tire of staring at my pleading face in a screen. A standing man burns always at the blade of my door.

POETRY

The Invention of the Darling By Li-Young Lee

The Invention of
the Darling

By Li-Young Lee
What we can’t see are two bodies moving at the speed of longing, burning at the blinding rate of dying, traveling in several worlds at once.

A Prophecy Is Nothing By Rosalie Moffett

A Prophecy
Is Nothing

By Rosalie Moffett
Amazon closes, as if pulling tight a black suture, the distance between desire and the fulfillment of that desire. I was promised full control.

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

Missing Shapes and Other Poems By Sierra Nelson

Missing Shapes and Other Poems

By Sierra Nelson
You could smell your mother’s heartache like an ingredient in lipstick from that era, a waxy perfumed chemical pang of trying to make the best of it.

POETRY

Genesis and Other Poems By Sharon Olds

Genesis and
Other Poems

By Sharon Olds
I forget what it was like—for most of ten years, to wake next to no one, a being reduced, like the handiwork of a sculptor who could not stop.

Ella Says and Other Poems By Gwen Strauss

Ella Says and
Other Poems

By Gwen Strauss
Between interrogations Hélène mapped on the walls of her cell the Gaussian integral, the square root of pi.

POETRY

iPOEMS

IPOEMS

POETRY

on a list of games that buddha would not play, number 12 is By Stella Wong

on a list of
games that buddha would not play,
number 12 is

By Stella Wong
i’m an extra / virgin olive oil / rawest when it’s neon

iPOEMS

Third Act By Ed McManis

Third Act

By Ed McManis
You retell the story and I wait for my cues, when to smile, nod, the dark part where we both are silent.

IPOEMS

This Hand By Amy Uyematsu

This Hand

By Amy Uyematsu
whose sixty-one-year-old veins look like giant roots breaking through earth’s skin. This hand I’ve filled with stones by the sea.

CARTOONS

CARTOONS

CARTOONS

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2021-11 By Various Artists

Cartoon Art Volume 2021-11

By Various Artists
Bored bovines, an automotive exodus, and more, from Kendra Allenby, Pat Byrnes, Andrew Dicus, Mick Stevens, and P. C. Vey.

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2021-10 By Various Artists

Cartoon Art Volume 2021-10

By Various Artists
Evening plans, perp walks, and more, by Kendra Allenby, Andrew Dicus, Kaamran Hafeez, Mick Stevens, and Kim Warp.

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2021-09 By Various Artists

Cartoon Art Volume 2021-09

By Various Artists
Foul play, seeing red, and more, from Pat Byrnes, Seth Fleishman, Eva Novakovich, Teresa Burns Parkhurst, and P. C. Vey.