By: Richard D. Hartwell   She’d been plying him with gifts for a month or so. He started to stay over about halfway through the month. A few of his uniform things hung in her closet, but mostly the new things…

By: Robert S. King Among clouds of attacking crows he spots the white bird and fires. That will put it out of its misery, he says. The bird dog waits below, pointing downward as the dove falls. The blue-collared dog…

‘Writing is like going back to dark places’ is a recent thing that fell into my ears. A renowned author has said this in an interview to a newspaper. He’s not the one to voice the pains involved in writing…

By: Richard D. Hartwell  Not for the first time, Perhaps for the last, I note this is no monologue, Rather a continuing, one-sided dialogue. You, Sitting there embalmed On your judgmental stool. You, Calling yourself a person of discourse Are…

By: Richard D. Hartwell Suffer anguish of memory, family close as sticky-rice, grain to grain, gene to gene, coagulated and congealed. Cannot un-remember psychological molestation, brutality of hidden scars, rage of emotional rape. Dark memories filled with white lies, spoiled…

By: Richard D. Hartwell  It must have been about 1955 or ‘56 when I was first a procurer for my cousin Jocelyn. I don’t recall whose idea it was to sell from door to door, but it fell to me…

  By: Ruth Ann Hixson I wish I had a friend To cry with when I’m sad. I wish I had a friend To laugh with when I’m glad. A friend to be there for me When the sunshine turns to…

By: W. Jack Savage   I woke up, having planned to go in a little late and had told my employer so the night before. My son’s birthday was coming up and I knew what he wanted. It was a T-shirt…

By: Lee Oleson Sylvia had a face too thin, eyes sunk deep, shoulders and body uncomfortably narrow, dark hair, and a neck a little too long, jumbled into what’s sometimes called unconventional beauty. She had made her way through life…

Strayed into enemy’s, 23 years ago And taken prisoner And falsely implicated for spying And then sentenced to death! But with life caught in diplomacy Sarabjit finally returned home, Disfigured and dead, He was robbed of his heart and lung…