By: Ethan Goffman Aphorisms for a Lonely Planet Mourning Dove A mourning dove chose to nest on the lantern just above our patio, which seemed too low to be safe. Day after day, the dove sat diligently, nurturing her eggs….
By: Sayan Roy Life was very simple then. It was summer. Winds were blowing gently throughout. Animals were playing around, birds sang from branch to branch, and in the middle of the forest, we stood — two small saplings, wide-eyed,…
By Douglas Young “How much longer before we get there?” Zelma asked from the back seat’s right window. “Yes!” Tucker exclaimed with one hand on the wheel and the other hitting the roof of his old car. “Thank…
By: Kenneth M. Kapp Less than a minute into their argument, Vern switched gears. “You men are all alike. All you ever want is meat and potatoes. It’s no big deal if I throw in a turnip just to broaden…
By: Andrew Giusto Poe in real life seemed more to the right but politically more northern he tried to get appointed to the US Customs House but missed a meeting and never got the appointment. In this reality he gets…
by Debbie Gill-Warren Well, it happened. They said it would. He had been a two packer a day since he was twelve years old. That’s a lot of cigarettes. How does one go about smoking that much at such an…
By: Michael Colon Sitting on the roof of my home, watching the universe, is one of my favorite things to do. My new telescope just came in the mail, and I can’t wait to use it as soon as this…
By: Michael Gigandet That’s got to be her. Almost 20 years, 17 anyway, and here she is in Kroger’s baking aisle. Wonderment. Her go-to expression in unguarded moments as if everything that came into her line of vision required…
By: David Agyei-Yeboah My nose is my bane. I fight with it every day. With how it looks, thinned against the bloated outlier of my face, sitting on top of a pointy neck and a bamboo body. I need surgery…
By Chitra Gopalakrishnan We three sisters, each born five years apart, reunite in 2024 after a decade of separation. On the evening of January sixth, to be exact, we gather in New Delhi’s Hauz Khas, where our youngest sister, Neela,…