By Penny Skillman “Remember the void, Chuck. Remember the void.” Dramatically, the woman held his face in her hands, staring deeply into the void of Chuck’s eyes. “C’mon Chuck, let’s go.” We dragged him away from the woman who said…
By: Simon Havok A Land of Plenty From the Aran Islands to Belfast, a land of plenty, for the meek and bold Over infinite rolling emerald hills of rocky roads that bend and fold Deep into the Scots pines, in…
By Nicole Sharp The coffeepot sputtered and coughed in annoyance. Janie Holms sighed, waiting for that first drip of brown liquid to trickle into the twelve cup coffee pot. When it did, she gave another heavy sigh and righted herself,…
By: Maa Salaam “Aleem! Aaleem! “Ma!” “Aaaleeem!” “Maaaa!” I shouted. Mothers and their incessant calls, especially when you were playing, especially now when I was losing and fighting to come back. Uuurgh! “Alee–“ “Maa! I’m coming!” I quickly packed my…
By: Don Tassone Arjun Agarwal and Akeyo Kamau met during their first year of medical school at Johns Hopkins. Arjun was from India, Akeyo from Kenya. Both were new to the US. They had seen each other in biochemistry. Each…
By: Robert Spielman Very seldom does a man of any age, especially a man who has reached the age of deep-rooted regret, have only one item on the end table at the right hand of his rocking chair. Usually, a…
By: William Doreski Glacial Erratics in Belmont Being rocks, they don’t remember. Or remember very little. The streets square up to houses, to the playground, tennis courts, and the large but effete cemetery. The rocks squat self-conscious on lawns as…
By: Bruce Levine Fifteen minutes of fame. Not much consistency. Not much to build a career on. Not much to build a life on. Why did he bother? Why did he go through all the trouble? He’d asked himself those…
By: Linda Barrett One Thalia had everything ready for the last night of her life. While Hurricane Denise poured gallons of water down on the small New Jersey town, Thalia prepared herself for her suicide. She bought the sleeping pills…
By Russ Bickerstaff The place would’ve been considered squalid if it weren’t for the fact that there never really seemed to be that much of a consciousness there to judge its condition. This is not to say that there wasn’t…