• Fiction

    New Beginnings

    By Maria Capezio Crookes Day 1  Mother stopped the car in front of the house, where the fence paused to give space to the pathway to the front door. She turned the car off and put her head on the wheel. The rest of the family looked out the car window and stared at the new house. Built in the 1960’s, the house looked and felt old, but with a strange modern touch; it reminded Mother of the house from I dream of Jeannie. The two trees in the front yard lined the pathway, creating the illusion of a tunnel of leaves and low branches; there were rose bushes under…

  • Fiction

    Might as well

    By Maria Capezio Crookes I- The Chair  Last Saturday, an ordinary one, I was in the living room, sitting on my favorite chair facing the window, letting the silence of the snow falling accompany me, with a blanket on my lap, my book, and my coffee. Taking a deep breath, I looked around and saw that the stack of Christmas cards we received was still sitting on the shelf where I left them in January. I shrugged, and thought, “I might as well do it, otherwise it’s not getting done.” I grabbed the cards and couldn’t help looking through them. Pictures of babies and dogs, letters of aunties with detailed…

  • Poetry

    The Mighty Wrangler Sue

    By Laura Ditto I’m sure you must have heard  of many cowboy men—  Billy the Kid and Buffalo Bill—  but this ain’t about all them.  See, I doubt you know  that among the plains,  a mighty girl once roamed  with skill about the reins.  In fiesty herds of cattle  she always stood her ground  and fired a blazing pistol  with a deafening sound.    Yes, it is she—  who rangers never slew—  the fearsome, frightening, fighting:  the Mighty Wrangler Sue.    They say she could mend clothes,  while riding cross the range,  yodeling into the night  so folks all called her strange.    She liked to walk in trousers,  and…

  • Poetry

    Love

    By Kenneth A Hughes It’s wave after crashing wave  Over the walls and spreading wetting  Filling every space and bursting past  Rippling with vibrations  Pulsating emanating generating pumping out  Overwhelming all encompassing  Reverberating releasing relays    Splashing forth and ever present  Nothing but this is important to remember  Always will and will be  Captivated appreciated celebrated  Flowing edges onward pouring  Steadily gaining maintaining the volume    Breathe it in and breathe it out  It’s all we are and all we need  As is the way of the stars  Grow like a flower  Share this Love   Love eternally  Love 

  • Poetry

    Cutting your tongue on the words you speak

    By Kenneth A. Hughes Walking through the values you entered unto the world/  Fraught with nought nary a faerie, “Not Fair He!”   These globs of stops are concluding a protruding confusing intrusive elusive notion current on the currents in motion on the Bering Sea portion of the Pacific Ocean/  Land meets man, meats man & plans stands for days in ways that’s it’s laid out like gout, stout as a shout/  This gory “Glory & hallelujah” in collusion to Illusion; losing to a lost paradise parable parked between antiquated ideas flayed and displayed in an intricate array  The main rage on the stage is parading cascading triumvirate hues/  Stoned and…

  • Poetry

    Ceiling Spiders

    By Miles Dennis I crushed my fingers stacking wood.  Cut my fingers on parking-lot glass.  Broken arms, been snapped by ropes, and burned by countless careless touches of the stove.  I cursed and cried each as I waited for them to fade.  It is different now, I can’t find it now. It is everywhere, except when I look for it, when it is nowhere.   The half-dead trees outside are wrong, they won’t bear leaves this spring. The half-melted streets are wrong too, they will never melt out, and I think it’s inside somewhere. I can’t find it.  The East is wrong too, the sun won’t come up in the morning.…

  • Academic

    That’s What They Want You to Think

    By Marty Grumblis 0: Contact Established  You, yes you, stop whatever you’re doing right now. I need to make sure you’re ready to listen to what I’m about to say. You’ve been living in a dream world, a world of lies and deception and mind control to keep the masses complacent. No, don’t act surprised when you read this, act as normal as possible. You wouldn’t want them to notice, would you? Good, yes, act totally natural, you’re just reading a normal article from the mainstream media, you’re just getting your daily dose of misinformation. Except, this time, you’re getting the truth. The truth that they’ve been hiding from you.  …

  • Poetry

    I Am the Villain, and I Will Never Win

    By Jordan Hales I am the villain, and I will never win. My words are laced with venom. My ambition stings. I am never wrong, nor am I right. Vanity is worn on my iron sleeve. Viridian is my color. Black is my heart. Silver are the swords that stay at my side. I am the villain, and when you fall, I triumph. I taunt. I tear. I am only a reflection. I burn, you blunder. Betrayal is a given—by you, by me. I will love you. I will leave you, and you will watch me walk away. The ground burns in my footprints. Power blazes within me, but not…

  • Poetry

    Transformation of Self

    By Kenneth A Hughes Show me, show me what you see  A scared little boy in a circle of uncertainty  Whispers in the dark trees unknown  He comes in to surrender, Alone  Lies and sin fall from his lips  The boulder he carries falls and splits  Suffering and hell he sees  Promises of Growth gossips the trees  His head is full of confusion and doubt  He’s cold when the stars and fire Go out  Blazing high in the sky Sun ray falls  Mercy from the sand he cries he calls  Like all things in life this too shall end  With the rain his soul begins to mend  Gratitude washes over…

  • Poetry

    Remember your meds. Remember you’re on meds.

    By Margo Gillis Good morning my dear, how do you feel  Be cautious with your thoughts, they’re rarely real  Please remember to take your meds before you start to wane  I promise they’ll do their best to keep you sane  But when you’ve made it through, be patient with your brain  Please remember you’re on meds, your thoughts may refrain  From making any sense, due to the chemical imbalance  Oh, and don’t forget, when you chide yourself for being numb  Remind yourself of the time you nearly bit off your thumb  Trying to pull your mind away from the war raging inside  By forcing your body to set its survival…