By: Debbie Tunstall This is my story to tell.You do not get to choose the wordsthat everyone needs to read.They are for me, and for others. If I get cutyou do not get to choose how I bleed,If it tricklesgushesor…

By: Gopal Lahiri Breathing Incense It’s what speaks to us, that corner, that edge of lifefrom which emergesa vitellus of pigment and tinges, like bloodyfiligree of bones,spreading the autumn sky.the daylight is winding down from theshouldered hill.Oleander tree sheds its…

By: Cynthia Pitman Based on true events i. Raindrops wrinkle the river.Soft waves gently slapthe sand where I stand.The trees around mewhisper in the gentle breezethat will soon growinto a wild wind.I stare across the expanse.A lone boat heads home.The…

By: Tom Ball IT WAS ALL PREORDAINED I remember being born into an adult body with memories of several lifetimes. When I was born in an 18-year-old’s body in the incubator they gave me my “horoscope” prognosis which briefly said…

By: Bruce Levine Focused on the road Out of mediocrity Goals set and fulfilled *** Sailing through the maze Choosing turns that make dreams clear The path is defined

By: Debbie Tunstall If this is the endIf this air I breathe is indeed the last,I want it to fill every inch of what is me.I need it to rush from mouth to veinswith a spring in it’s step,Delicate but…

By: Dennis Vannatta #9   At age twelve, Russell Parkhurst tears a page from his spiral notebook and writes across the top, LIST OF MY LIFE.  He’d meant to write, LIST OF WHAT I WANT TO DO IN MY LIFE, but…

By: Christopher Johnson Glacial Park Conservation Area in McHenry County, Illinois–some 45 miles northwest of Chicago–is a stunning example of the Midwestern landscape. In the space of 3,400 acres, you hike through a restored prairie and past a bog and…

By James Aitchison We were touring Northern Ireland, my wife and I, tracing some of my Irish ancestors to the seaside town of Ballycastle.  There, on the north-eastern tip of Ireland, we had booked a rather interesting cottage from the…

By George Oliver They throw them in there – never put nor place. Girls and boys like Taylor are thrown in the small, padded rooms by the Guardians. The Guardians follow orders at the Compound: line up the new children…