STORY OF THE WEEK

STORY OF THE WEEK

Entropy By William Mackey

Entropy

By William Mackey
So scrimping on scratch-offs and candy bars and shit, I saved ten rolls of pennies, intending as I did to go on a crusade. To my Dollar Value, local store.

POEM OF THE WEEK

POEM OF THE WEEK

back garden of the Troubadour smoking over and over By Ellie Stimpson

back garden of the Troubadour smoking over and over

By Ellie Stimpson
I notice F’s teeth have lots of kindness as we all move down to the basement old wooden and low ceilings very London I’ve been told

SPRING STORY CONTEST

SPRING STORY CONTEST

SPRING STORY CONTEST
Open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. We’re looking for short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts.

Please see the Guidelines.

PAST NARRATIVE PRIZE WINNER

PAST NARRATIVE PRIZE WINNER

Rouses Point By Sarah Balakrishnan

Rouses Point

By Sarah Balakrishnan
It was a moment when every second split as fine as hairs, in which each of the decisions that Marnie made would seem to testify to the very nature of who she was.

STORY CONTEST WINNERS

STORY CONTEST WINNERS

STORY CONTEST WINNERS

STORY CONTEST WINNERS

Private Planet By Dina Kleiner

Private Planet

By Dina Kleiner
Picturing herself in the future was a comfort because it was a confirmation. She believed any confirmation at all, desirable or undesirable, was favorable over the unknown.

STORY CONTEST WINNERS

Regional Hospitals By Alice Ryan

Regional Hospitals

By Alice Ryan
She has no recollection of any restaurant, but she knows how important it is to her father that his old life connects to his new life, so she nods into the pitch-black of the car park of the regional hospital.

STORY CONTEST WINNERS

The Day of the Dog By Maria Giesbrecht

The Day of the Dog

By Maria Giesbrecht
Working. That has been our entire world for the two months that we and other Mennonite families have come from Mexico to work in Canada. “Good, honest, godly work,” Father says. “We’ll be blessed.”

FICTION

CLASSIC

FICTION

FICTION

Boulder City By T. C. Boyle

Boulder City

By T. C. Boyle
Four words—Your mother passed away—coming at him from the realm of anonymity, the lips of a stranger speaking through the inert slab of a phone hundreds of miles away.

CLASSIC

CLASSIC

The Weary Blues By Langston Hughes

The Weary Blues

By Langston Hughes
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

Portrait of a Child with Fruit and Rot By Aldo Amparán

Portrait of a Child with Fruit and Rot

By Aldo Amparán
Night—a cricket’s metronome. His breath rasps the air with grit. She arches her back for support. Her muscles: fists. But the man who will never be your father unfolds her.

POETRY

POETRY

Praying Naked and Other Poems By Katie Condon

Praying Naked and Other Poems

By Katie Condon
Forgive me, please, for continuing to believe that roses are beautiful. Pardon me for loving them more as they wilt, heavy with dreams of being scattered down wedding aisles.

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

Wood Ducks Again By Sydney Lea

Wood Ducks Again

By Sydney Lea
They come to our pond every April. No need to tell me it makes no sense for me to feel mild rage at their obstinacy. I turn from my desk and they’re here. The drakes will battle until one prevails.

POETRY

POETRY

Monologue of a Ghost By David Mason

Monologue of a Ghost

By David Mason
I stood in laced boots. My foot felt strong. I had that feeling of being young again, immortal, wearing a magic war shirt.

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

Eve on Her Making By Ivana Mestrovic

Eve on Her Making

By Ivana Mestrovic
What did Adam think when he awoke and saw a bloody clump fresh from taking? Did he recoil or recognize the flesh as his?

POETRY

POETRY

That Spring By Lo Naylor

That Spring

By Lo Naylor
spring came all the same. announced itself like a woodpecker on bark. my heart barked in my chest. each morning, I didn’t dare go back to sleep—couldn’t bear to wake twice.

POETRY

POETRY

POETRY

A Posteriori By Ananya Kanai Shah

A Posteriori

By Ananya Kanai Shah
Now the years recant in a clean, even stroke. In the annex of the mind, a chair. From it I watch the city swirl into renaissance, toad-like cars chasing their own vapor.
What My Father Taught Me about the Snow By Chelsea Woodard

What My Father Taught Me about the Snow

By Chelsea Woodard
Rest your left wrist lightly on the steering wheel to guide the car, because in this plummeting weather there is nothing to do but lean in.

CARTOONS

GRAPHIC STORY

CARTOONS

CARTOONS

Cartoon Art Volume 2026-05 By Various Artists

Cartoon Art Volume 2026-05

By Various Artists
Suzy Becker, Kyle Bravo, Jake Goldwasser, P. C. Vey, and Shannon Wheeler star in this cartoon collection.

GRAPHIC STORY

GRAPHIC STORY

My Father By Shannon Wheeler

My Father

By Shannon Wheeler
In 1967 he adopted an Open Land Policy: anyone who wanted could come and live for free.