Athleticism and Other Poems

By Alex Andy Phuong Athleticism Showcasing talent On a court or an arena, And playing a game That is more than just a game, And learning precious Lifelong lessons While accepting defeat With humbleness and humility, And demonstrating the ability To beat the heat Until the game is complete Mist Fine morning mist, Evaporated Through …

Kintsugi

By Melissa Wabnitz Pumayugra You are wonderfully broken, little pieces held together with thin gold lines, soldering the pain in the places that my words could not reach. I held fast to what we used to be, memories glued with tears, but I could not fix the edges of your hidden darkness. I hope that …

Train Ride

By L. Burton Brender “Did they ever find it?” “My bag?” “Yeah.” “They haven’t.” “Had your car keys?” “Yes.” “Didn’t think to put those in your pocket before you got on the plane?” “No.” “Sounds kind of stupid, if you ask me.” “Do you often say that to people you’ve known less than an hour?” …

The Debt

By Lewis Brett Smiler Chris Doyle knew soccer tryouts would be the most brutal week of his life, but he was prepared. He had wanted to play varsity soccer more than anything else and spent the whole summer training for this moment. Whatever the coaches demanded, Chris would do. He would perform an infinite number …

Steven and His Little Red Boat

By Tim Law Once upon a time there was a man named Steven. He had a little red boat that he would launch each night from his own personal jetty and he would sail his boat around the world. “Tell me your stories so that I can then share them,” Steven would say to all …

The Shot

By Laura Everly The high school gymnasium was packed wall to wall and yet it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.  There was exactly one second left in the girls’ high school basketball regional finals and the Stallions were down 70-68.  Freshman Maggie Reynolds was at the foul line.  She took the …

May Flowers Contest

It's time for our next contest! Our editors are looking for poems, short stories, and art pieces which celebrate flowers and other flora. They can be from any genre. The requirements: Entries must be submitted by APRIL 15, 2022They can be any length and you can turn in more than oneThey must be APPROPRIATE. This means …

Maris

By David William Pearce It was her eyes I noticed first. Big, cobalt blue, and surrounded by a translucent white. The beret was as I expected: red felt covering her head and left ear. She was sitting at a café, outside, under a red and white checkered awning. A cigarette dangled between her fingers, and …

Choices

By Jacob Meadows In life, one must make innumerable choices. These choices vary in importance, some being as trivial as deciding if one should take the direct route home from the mosque, or embark upon the route which follows the river for a mile before returning to the main road. Other choices hold such weight …

Driftwood

By Neil Brosnan Angela isn’t exactly sure when her loathing of public holidays first began, when each impending break from work had become a source of anguish rather than joy. She had once adored such breaks, and had perfected the art of manipulating isolated bank holidays into an extra week of annual leave – providing …