I’m learning to recall it slowly, but it’s hard. Some types of pain, I’ve come to understand, are just too deep to touch, are better left alone.
POEM OF THE WEEK
POEM OF THE WEEK
The Trade
By Cristen Aery
Before you were promised into being, I was a child at the spinning wheel searching for something to believe in. I learned to lose myself in the whir and whisper of the machine.
SPRING 2025 STORY CONTEST
SPRING 2025 STORY CONTEST
Our Spring 2025 Story Contest, which offers $5,000 in awards, is now open to all fiction and nonfiction writers.
Please see the Guidelines.
17th ANNUAL POETRY CONTEST
17th ANNUAL POETRY CONTEST
Poetry is "the eldest sister of all arts, and parent of most," wrote William Congreve. We agree and are seeking poets and poems to celebrate with prizes and publication.
Please see the Guidelines.
FICTION
FICTION
Crusaders
By Natasha Ayaz
We ate mostly stolen crops and small game caught with Husk’s crossbow. Everything tasted like chocolate to me in those days. Could’ve been cold dirt but it hit me like cocoa.
POETRY
POETRY
POETRY
POETRY
Rain
By Dan Gerber
One way or another, it always comes around, as surely as space curves and the earth keeps on circling and being circled.
POETRY
POETRY
Failure to Appear
By Rosalie Moffett
To be the grass someone’s memory spins its wheels in, the globe brimming with gumballs, or the palm—but I’m not, maybe never.
POETRY
POETRY
POETRY
POETRY
Willamette Shipyard Blues
By Alex Tretbar
Lost when they let me out
Just my welding gun
So I went down to the
shipyard
Where it all began
POETRY
POETRY
Reasons to Go On
By Craig van Rooyen
Because grass sprouts from the stump’s rings like tiny soldiers, lost in a labyrinth. Because this mess I’ve made I haven’t made alone.
FICTION
NONFICTION
FICTION
FICTION
The Pink Door
By Guadalupe Nettel
A little door appeared in my mind’s eye, allowing a glimpse of a female student, with soft brown skin, who was sitting in her underwear touching up the nail varnish on her toes.
NONFICTION
NONFICTION
John Irving at Iowa
By Ron Hansen
Suddenly John was there, in slim blue jeans and a rough white shirt that could have belonged to a Spanish troubadour or a sixteenth-century pirate.
CARTOONS
GRAPHIC STORIES
CARTOONS
CARTOONS
Cartoon Art Volume 2025-04
By Various Artists
New laughs over fiscal chaos, heavenly discernment, and delayed late-night deliveries.
GRAPHIC STORIES
GRAPHIC STORIES
Let’s Learn English!
By Tracey K. Berglund
A visual exploration of some amusing homophones and homonyms in the English language.
Support Narrative! Narrative is a hundred percent reader-supported. If you love what you’re reading, please make a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation. Your gift of $60 or more includes a 1-year Backstage Pass with special features and exclusive previews.