GRIEF AND HIGH SCHOOL REUNIONS by Donald Zagardo
Grief and High School Reunions
They live in the back of my mind like a waking dream. I can never forget them. I don’t want to. They were my girls, my friends and lovers who...
ROUSING BITS OF ASSORTED WHOLES by Joseph O’Day
Rousing Bits of Assorted Wholes
Joseph O’Day
Every December I used to rip out listings of best books of the year from The New York Times and The Boston Globe and store them in the...
SINK AND SLUDGE by Billie Pritchett
The sink is clogged again. I’ve brushed my teeth and now the sink is just a porcelain bowl of cloudy water. It’s morning, and I’m tired, and I need to take a shower and...
THE SLIVER OF A LIE by Linda Caradine
The Sliver of a Lie
Once in a blue moon, we may meet someone who appears to have life figured out, someone who knows intrinsically the right things to do and say in any given...
GAME POINT by Richard C. Lin
Game Point
“Hey, handsome,” says a sweetly familiar voice from the right of me as I enter the gate at the airport.
I turn to look, and again a riptide sweeps me away, drowning me in...
THE RIVER ROSE by Meg Jerit
The River Rose
Things started to feel differently. A rash began to creep up my neck. A knowing was gnawing inside of me, but it eluded my fingertips daily so that I could not...
BLUEBERRY DOGS by Sara Wetmore
Blueberry Dogs
I am six years old and I am stapling a stack of printer paper together, right in the center where I’ve folded a sharp crease so that it will fold in half. I’m...
OUR BEAUTIFUL TAHOMA by Mike Nolan
Our Beautiful Tahoma
by Mike Nolan
When my grandmother was hospitalized, I received a phone call from my dad. “Drop what you’re doing and drive home,” he instructed me. “Grandma’s in intensive care and not expected...
WHEN YOU’RE AGORAPHOBIC AND YOUR HUSBAND GETS CANCER by Suellen Meyers
When You’re Agoraphobic and Your Husband Gets Cancer
Seated on a cold concrete bench outside Saint Rose Hospital, I saw my brother-in-law and his new girlfriend coming up the walkway from the parking lot. “I...
THE BLUE ROOM by Shelbi Tedeschi
The Blue Room
I lie in the spare bedroom of our little house. First house. I am wrapped in a twin-sized comforter from one of our college dorm rooms, even though the room is too...