Featured Works: Week of Jan. 12 (Body)
Since this is the second week of January, a time when many of us are focused on New Year’s resolutions (and many of them about health), our contributors take us inside the body. In Laurie Klein’s poem, “Right Brain Blues,” a breast cancer survivor learns to live in the moment. In John Grey’s poem, “An Asthmatic Hearing Himself Breathe,” the speaker uses metaphors to describe his own breath. Laurie Klein’s poem, “Next Breath, Right Breath,” is a meditation on the...
Read MoreFeatured Works: Week of Jan. 4 (Choices)
As 2015 begins, everything seems possible. What choices will you make in the coming year? This week’s contributors depict some big decisions. In a narrative poem by Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, “The Introvert Who (Almost) Ran for Town Council,” a concerned citizen thinks about the best ways to help her community. A humorous poem by Carol Hamilton, “Choices,” summarizes the differences between politicians and poets. In the short story by Robert Watts Lamon, “The Ark of Memory,” a 1960s playboy must decide between his love and the family fortune. The short...
Read MoreFeatured Works: Week of Dec. 29 (Reflection)
As the final days of 2014 wind down and we look forward to 2015, this week’s contributors aid us with a little self-reflection. In Jenna B. Morgan’s short story, “The Coefficient of Friction,” a college professor comes to terms with her changing life. In Michael Estabrook’s poem, “At McDonald’s,” people-watching at a fast-food joint causes the speaker to turn inwards. In Paul Alan Ruben’s short story, “An Actress Prepares,” a single mother, unhappy with her acting career, makes a dire...
Read MoreFeatured Works: Week of Dec. 15 (Pop Culture)
For better or worse, pop culture and the movies are big news this week,as our contributors take a closer look at our relationship with the things we read and watch. In Jonathan Lowe’s witty “The Secret History of Walter Mitty,” he takes us on a stream-of-consciousness pop cultural journey. A.J. Huffman’s “The Road to Anvil Road” waxes philosophical about Wile E. Coyote of the Warner Brothers Roadrunner cartoons. Jack Vian’s “The Spandex Spider” shows us the drab reality behind a super-hero’s masked life. In Jack Vian’s...
Read MoreFeatured Works: Week of Dec. 8 (Parents)
Whether you are a parent, have living parents or are remembering parents who have passed on, the winter holiday season tends to highlight those relationships in our minds, for better or worse. In the short story “When Ann Calls” by Nancy Christie, an aging mother longs for a stronger connection with her pregnant daughter. In the poem “Inheritance” by Amy Barone, a daughter is surrounded by remembrances of her mother. In the short story “Ordinary Riches” by Bill Gaythwaite, a teenager clashes with his parents over...
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