Category Archives: Artistic

RUTH MANNINO: Coming to Terms

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, ,

Married too soon, she lost herself. She became we; we became they. Over the years, there was no room for her.

Daughter. Sister. Wife. Mother. Grandmother.

Walking the line between solitude and loneliness, she hopes to come to terms with which was preferable. Waiting for answers, she begins to write.

Ruth Mannino is a retired math teacher, tutor, and business analyst, who has always loved to write. Meditation and mindfulness being a part of her everyday life, in 2020, she published Thursday Mornings: Breathe, Stretch, Listen, Love, a series of interviews she conducted with senior members of her chair yoga class. She has just discovered flash fiction and finds it motivating.

LAURA BESLEY: Beats of Life

Artistic, Submissions, ,

To the beat of pre-dawn drums, we girls pretty ourselves, then form a circle, united yet apart.

The order in which the boys may choose is long-decided. They assess, appraise, make their final decisions.

Drums stop, silence echoes.

The first boy steps forward, chooses me.

My family will be happy.

Laura Besley writes short fiction and squeezes her writing into the bookends of her day. She has lived in Holland, Germany, and Hong Kong, but now lives in land-locked central England and misses the sea. Her flash fiction collection, The Almost Mothers, was published in March 2020. She tweets at @laurabesley.

BOB THURBER: Father’s Day Again (For Sarah Kate 1980-2010)

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , , , ,

I still can’t get through a week without thinking about her.
Some deep-rooted memory sparks, my heart ignites, my thoughts wander.
She feels close. Alive again. If not in this house, this town, then the next.
In my heart no time has lapsed since I last saw my daughter’s smile.

Bob Thurber is the author of six books. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

EILEEN MARDRES: To Be a Father

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

My sons. Fathers. Labour and birth. Nocturnal baby cries. Partners’ children, now your own. Teacher conferences, school field trips, patient games of chess. Working hard. Paying (hard). Concerts, dance recitals, sports, and more. Escorting brides, assisting grooms. Long days in hospital rooms. Tears shed. Laughter shared. Love, not biology, defines.

Eileen is a mother to four loving and supportive fathers, all of whom make her proud.

BELINDA SAVILLE: Pivot

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

I furnish a trail of breadcrumbs, teardrops on pavement, as we leave the psychologist’s office.

“Your son has autism.”

Your tiny hand finds mine as we walk, my mind somersaulting over what our life will look like now.

“Mum, can I get a milkshake?”

Nothing changed.

Everything changed.

Belinda Saville is a Sydney-based jeweller who started writing to help her teenage daughter with high school English and find the joy therein. She is infatuated with the inherent beauty of gemstones, and of the written word.

MARY ROHRER-DANN: Blessing

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , ,

When he cannot sleep, he counts the cats chasing invisible grasshoppers across the ceiling. Some nights, one might pause, beryl eyes luminous, and leap down onto his bed. Tonight, a fine-boned grey, soft and silent as fog, lands lightly, curls against his hip. As Emily had for so many years.

Mary Rohrer-Dann writes narrative poetry and flash fiction and publishes in a variety of venues.

JENNIFER LAI: Feeding Time

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

The baby monitor crackled to life at 2:30 AM with my son’s cries. As I rolled out of bed, a gentle shushing and humming came through the speaker. Followed by silence. Relieved, I tucked back under the covers, then heard my husband mutter, “Thanks, Honey, I’ll get him next time.”

Jennifer Lai lives in Washington state. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s busy tending to her pet rocks and dying pepper plants.

DEIRDRE SMITH: Trickster

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

We walk through the old cemetery, reading 19th-Century gravestones.

The ancient trees tower.

Their roots lift the pavement as if pushed up by the hands of those below.

I maneuver the stroller as she tells me stories of ravens that would swoop down and steal newborns out of their prams.

Deirdre Smith (B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed.) has dabbled in writing for as long as she can remember. She has recently started back to work as a teacher and Guidance Counsellor after a decade of being a stay-at-home mom to her three young children. She resides in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

KEITH HOERNER: They Talk of the Days When We Made Our Own Choices

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

New Town residents consist of families only, according to Rule 421A. Specifically, a husband and wife and two children—only. The Rule’s Part B allows for offspring to be any combination of sexes. Residents find this flexibility to be comforting. It’s not allowing any form of disability that cripples them with fear.

Keith Hoerner wrote this story.

REB ELKIN: The Book You Hold

Artistic, Odd, Submissions, , ,

The book in your hands is an antique. The cover appears featureless at first, but look carefully and you will see some faint markings. A face. Your own, but much older.

Wherever you send the book —a thrift store, the trash— it will always make its way back to you.

Reb Elkin writes science fiction & fantasy. See more at rebelkinwriter.com.