By: Miriam Manglani Linda didn’t ask for a step daughter with Down Syndrome when she married Allen six months ago. She exhaled in frustration and paced through her bedroom, her heals digging into the white plush carpet. “You said we’d…
By: Steven Grogan I think I was just too nervous when I let my tongue go rattling off like the machine gun I was holding. Why did I have to say I was going to kill those people if my…
By: James Aitchison Take refuge in thequiet voice within your soul.The past is impermanent,incapable of pursuit.When your mind is free ofphysical emotion,no regrets can remain.Hear the Wheel spin,heed the quiet voice ofyour inner self,let eternal truth shield youfrom turbulence.Accept life,…
By L. Burton Brender For Jim and Anthony My older brother, Jose, he is a man. He has 16 years and he has been a chambelan. Two times. The first time he was the escort for this very pretty girl who…
By: Brian Michael Barbeito the rains had arrived when there was supposed to be snow, and the fields became beige and flaxen again, and the world was strange and stayed that way. it was as if it had longed to…
By: Jake Sheff I Reassure and Measure Time’s Reluctance Down at Silver Falls: an Ovillejo How do you steal moonlit nights?Squatters’ rights.What do you tell whiny trees?Eat the freeze!Where do all your secrets run?On the sun. Now the autumn rains…
By: Gulshan Ara Little nursery underneath a half-burnt bunkerKerosine lamps hanging from the ceilingTiny premature babies wrapped in half torn blanketCurling up in their tiny cribs, struggling to stay warmSucking the last drop of milk from an empty milk bottleStruggling…
By: Jim Bates Northwoods lake countryWater glistening waves lappingHot sun scorching sandOn the beach playing. Big brother in charge of younger siblingsMomentarily distracted by building a sandcastleBaby Will toddles out onto the dock stumbles and falls off sinking fastBig brother…
By: Rehanul Hoque (Dedicated to Taslima Akter Rima) In the lonely hours of a lovelorn heartA wild beauty beckoned to come closer – She sat leaning upon a coral reefHer hair disheveled by the windHer eyes deep as the Pacific,She…
By: John Grey EGRETS Leaving water country behind,they headed for the trees,cadenced wingbeats slow, and I watched themgather in high branchesthat gently shook with their arrival. This was the assembly hour,as darkness closed the air up tight,and the hubbub settled…