Monthly Archives: May 2016

The Silence of January, fiction by Frank Reardon

Before Arnie San­dlin could drop a fist­ful of ice melt out­side the door­way of The Ranger Lounge, his stom­ach explod­ed and he was thrown five feet across the room into a pok­er table. Dutchie Sel­by stepped into the lounge, ice … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Earlene and the Witch, fiction by Misty Skaggs

Ivy swad­dled the sapling oak in the tat­tered remains of a patch­work quilt that got washed one too many times. The stuff­ing seeped out and clung to the young branch­es in worn white puffs, like tired clouds. She was care­ful … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Down by The River, poem by Charles Swanson

(A poet­ic com­ment on Breece D’J Pancake’s short sto­ry “A Room For­ev­er”) Between cold build­ings, out to the slate gray riv­er a view as flat as old year’s end. A room, a room for­ev­er, not because of heav­en— instead because of death. … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Tsunami, poem by Melissa Helton

My entire nation pitch­es for­ward, ocean water turned vio­lent. It was a slow rise that we couldn’t detect in the open sea. But now we can see it, an air­less wall at crest peak, that moment of full lungs ceas­ing to breathe … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Of My Great Uncle, poem by Amanda Kelley

Now that you are gone what I remem­ber most is the size of your hands—as big as oven mitts I see them wrapped around a hoe han­dle, then imag­ine them in box­ing gloves when you were young: The sound of the bell and your … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Trinity Ridge Zoological, poem by Todd Mercer

The Holy Roller Church of Ser­pents is set in a notch of a steep knob. You cross a rope-bridge to get there, remove your think­ing cap to roll with the irra­tional spec­ta­cle when Rev­erend Right­eous taunts the snakes, tests his faith … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Two Poems by Tim Peeler

Rougher Beast I took my train­ing from dad­dy, Drunk­en wak­ing me at three am With a belt buck­le across my legs. First three or four licks left red welts; Then I numbed and hard­ened, Nev­er giv­ing in when he screamed Cry you lit­tle bas­tard, cry, … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Cheaha, fiction by A.M. Garner

THE MAN WHO LOANS TOOLS IS OUT. The hand-let­tered sign hung dead cen­ter of the rear wall of the cement block garage. Lendon Philpot—the man who didn’t loan out his tools—leaned over the motor of a red ’67 Ford Galax­ie, … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Ghoul, fiction by Corey Mesler

It was a folk tale, an urban leg­end. That’s what we told our­selves though it was scant com­fort. I think I heard it first from my old­er brother’s friends on a night I was sup­posed to be asleep but, instead, … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Making Ends Meet, poem by Teisha Dawn Twomey

A good rule of thumb, is to pull the fine thread through a length twice the stretch. Wind the string in a semi-cir­­cle to make a loop, pull the ends through, tie the split twin tails taut togeth­er knot­ted twice or … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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