For Stephanie

By Lamont A. Turner My darling Stephanie, you were so young And possessed with a grace unmatched in all The poet’s lore and songs of love once sung By kind Euterpe who would enthrall The lost and lonely in unending nights Of tempestuous, impassioned delights. I belonged to you from the moment you Kissed my …

My Little Star Girl

By Lana M. Rochel Originally was written in 2018 and published in Multiply IQ in September 2018. Rochel updated the essay in 2021. More information about the essay will be posted after the essay. I'm looking at a white blank laptop page in front of me. “Hey, mum! Tell the story of your girl!" I …

Dawn-delion

By Susan Cleveland At daybreak, Momma flower gently rubbed the part of her midsection where her baby was beginning to grow. It wasn't a full bud yet: more like a small green nub. "Here comes the dawn, little one. I think that's a good name for you: a dandelion named Dawn. You'll be my Dawn-delion. …

The Room

By Joan Hyams Schmitz It’s been a calendar full of days since the boy entered the room, dumping his backpack on the floor as he flopped onto his bed for a power nap. This brief, impromptu trip home served one purpose—a quick trip to the dentist to repair a chipped tooth. Once the incisor was …

An Hour in the Life of a Five-Year-Old Pool Player

By Francine Rodriguez The parking lot in front of King Drew Place of Family on Central Avenue, was nearly full that morning in 1994.  I didn’t recognize any of the cars filling the lot, stacked one behind the other. Gangster cars, black Suburbans, Escalades, and lowriders, like the ones in my neighborhood, like the 61 …

Sunday Son

By Derrick Galloway Julius always seems to find himself in a dangerous and crazy situation every time I visit him and it seems to me that I constantly have to help him. Being his father, there is nothing that I love more than my son and I will always be ready and willing to do …

Four Poems by G. David Schwartz

Dogs Are  Not Stupid   Dogs are not stupid Dogs are not ignorant If they could drive automobiles They could become a president.   A Dog May Not Be   A dog may not be The best  friend of a cat I asked my dog and he said What do you think abbot that?   …

Poems by Alan Parry

Office Job dying of life – wasted while Americana – tinny/quiet – plays in the background   and the walls encroach and the windows shake   Children the sister is sitting cross-legged on her bedroom floor in torn jeans – surrounded by                   shadows/glossy magazines/scissors/tape/scrapbooks making kings and queens – fawning over idols the older brother …

Poems by Marc Carver

THE FUTURE AND THE PAST I walked backwards on another man's footprints on the beach just before the sea swept them away. I thought I could have his past instead of mine he was welcome to mine. I didn't want it but really I knew I could never lose it that albatross that clung around …

Christmas Contest: Honorable Mentions

As usual with our contests we wanted to give a shoutout to one poem and one story that we thought really stood out among the submissions that we received. Good job to "The Hymn Of The Bethlehem Star" by Luisa Kay Reyes and "Small Town Christmas Wearing Headphones" by Kelli J Gavin. The Hymn Of …