Featured Works: Week of Sep. 4 (Friendship)
Friendship keeps us going, gives us support, tells us who we are, and forms a basis for our life’s stories. This week’s contributors examine different ways that friends can impact our lives. “4’33” by Glenn Kane relives a day of mischief, courtesy of a fellow high school band member. Old friends reconnect in “Visitor” by Kevin J. Lenihan, as their memories give way to a darker present. “Stoned English Majors” by Stuart Michaelson is a coming-of-age story where independence, and friendship, sometimes prove to be at odds. “Burning Out” by Kevin J.B. O’Connor...
Read MoreBurning Out
You, who never tire of chaos, must comprehend this fire, and the manner in which it deconstructs the crackling logs, books we’ve read, ablaze in orange and splintering blue. Victims of our rage—it appears—they turn to white ash that drifts in our nostrils, presses our tongues in gestures of mute farewell. You, who never cared for poetry or philosophy, part willingly with yours, while I confess some doubt, hesitating over tomes you’ve heard me mention with sighs. We are wholly different, it seems, not in our desire to purge, but in our methods of departing from what remains of...
Read MoreStoned English Majors
On a late-spring night half-a-century back, best as I recall, I drove a Plymouth through a restaurant napkin and entered another universe. Of the first I’m reasonably sure; second, certain. It was a time of infinite possibility, near-probability, life all full ahead, fears masked in male bravado, if there at all, and as the black rotary phone in my bedroom shot unanswered rings at Phil’s place, it was like I could hug the future. And expect it to hug me back. 1970, 18-edging-toward-19, was the last year I’d live with my folks in their West Oak Lane, Philadelphia home, which has housed...
Read MoreVisitor
As I drew nearer the house, my carriage rolling slowly under a clear sky, not a single sound to mar the late afternoon, a sense of dread pervaded my soul. Still several miles away, I could see the ancient structure atop the hill, regal and prominent, like the residence of a Lord or a King residing in sunlight and majesty. The house had occupied that spot since ancient times, and from its birth it has been occupied by the family Van Cordt. Such a large and beautiful house it was: Of its size one could wander along its hallways and easily get lost in transit from one room to another; Of its...
Read More4’33
Okay, okay, I know … I remember opening this bottle of Zocor that is right here in front of me. I mean, it was just a few minutes ago that I did, just before I let myself get distracted by the news on TV that wasn’t really news, nothing that Walter Cronkite would have put on the news anyway. The question remains, the question the bottle seems to be asking me is: did I already take my nightly tablet? Honestly, I haven’t a clue—and that, of course was something I did or didn’t do after I opened the bottle. I do remember taking a tablet—but was that last night, the night before, the...
Read MoreFeatured Works: Week of July 10 (Meditation)
While summer is often considered a time for exploration, it can also be a great time for reflection. This week’s contributors meditate on life, both literally and figuratively. A poem by Jada Yee, “Follow the Recipe,” captures the sort of meditation caused by everyday actions. In a short story by Laurence Levey, “Yidiot,” a man attends a meditation class and comes to some unexpected self-realizations. Lana Bella’s poem, “Facing East on Basho Pond,” evokes a well-known poet with an intensity of...
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