Narrative Magazine | Writers, Fiction, Poetry, Storytelling, Nonfiction, Art

STORY OF THE WEEK

The Storm

By Thomas Hardy

Apparently there was to be a thunder-storm, and afterwards a cold continuous rain. The creeping things seemed to know all about the later rain, but little of the interpolated thunder-storm.

POEM OF THE WEEK

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

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.

18th ANNUAL POETRY CONTEST

“Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language,” wrote Lucille Clifton, and we couldn’t agree more. We’re looking for work that moves with intention, that reveals something we didn’t know we were missing.

Please see the Guidelines.

FICTION

HIGH SCHOOL CONTEST WINNER

FICTION

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.

HIGH SCHOOL CONTEST WINNER

No, but I once got very close

By Michelle Li

That was the year I kept talking to myself: I am good I am good I want to be loved. By you, I mean.

CLASSIC

POETRY

CLASSIC

The Jockey

By Carson McCullers

The jockey waited with his back to the wall and scrutinized the room with pinched, crêpy eyes. His eyes reached a table in a corner diagonally across from him, at which three men were sitting.

POETRY

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

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

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

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.