WENDY K MAGES: Geneses: Traces and Tribulations

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

She soaks and rinses the spinach, attempting to remove the sand and grit from the leafy greens. Soak after soak, the grit remains, a persistent trace of earthy origins. Not unlike the accent she’s trying so hard to lose, but which, despite her efforts, still reveals her true ancestral roots.

Wendy K. Mages, a Professor at Mercy College, is a storyteller and educator who earned a master’s and doctorate in Human Development and Psychology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a master’s in Theatre at Northwestern University. As a complement to her research on the effect of the arts on learning and development, she performs original stories at storytelling events and festivals in the US and abroad. Her stories appear in literary publications, such as 3cents Magazine, Antithesis Journal Blog, Five Minutes, Funny Pearls, Harpy Hybrid Review, Hearth & Coffin, The Journal of Stories in Science, New Croton Review, Potato Soup Journal, Quibble, Route 7 Review, Sea to Sky Review, Star 82 Review, and Young Ravens Review. A triptych of her poems appears in Scenario. To learn more about her work, please visit https://www.mercy.edu/directory/wendy-mages.

ELIOT GRAY: Lost

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , ,

A bird lay beneath the cherry tree. You said it had been lost, that its body would feed the tree. The chicks would find the cherries. Never knowing, but blessed by their loved one’s parting gift.

I lie beneath the flowers, waiting for the day you will find me again.

Eliot Gray loves the creepy and fantastical and aspires to achieve it in her writing.

PEYTON FRENCH: Just Rocks

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

“I want you to look at this image and tell me what you see,” he said, holding up the inkblot test. I stared. It’s Jimmy: pulling me into a hug, whispering “I love you.” It’s Jimmy: bleeding, crying, reaching out.

“I see rocks.” He scribbles that down. “Yeah, just rocks.”

Peyton French is a current college student who thinks Twitter is lame. You can follow him on Twitter at @Peyton_Writes

KIP KNOTT: My Reflection Escapes the Mirror

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

When I wiped the steam from the mirror one morning, he was gone. It only took six months for him to became a celebrity, even though his soul in different measures adds up to my own. All along he was the ship and I was nothing more than his anchor.

Kip Knott’s third book of poetry, The Other Side of Who I Am, is now available from Kelsay Books. More of his work may be accessed at www.kipknott.com.

ROSANNE EHRLICH: Released

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Released, set free, I sit in the late afternoon sun, seeming to look outward, but the journey turns within. There it is: everything I need to know to escape the limits of consciousness. A writer’s reward is the richness of remembrances. The gift of memory is what I travel on.

Rosanne Ehrlich has been writing poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction ever since she was accused of plagiarism in the seventh grade.

MICHAEL THEROUX: Bug-Converters

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

I’m still wrapped, muffled, and gloved while early birds are Springing! Translucent blossoms, sultry pink in morning light, lure bees and flutter-byes. There! Coat and mittens closeted, to sulk all summer whilst I wander unburdened. There, among the blossoms: Blue Birds are house-hunting. Soon, they’ll be feeding little bug-converters.

Michael Theroux incessantly writes in all forms, from his cubby hole home office in Sacramento, California. See some of his work at terutalk.com.

LAURA BESLEY: Vernacular

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

Minutes after arriving in a new place, my wife’s words start to warp, so much so that within the hour her accent sounds native.

Tonight, her dinner clingfilm-cold on the kitchen counter, she returns. I hear her reciting tongue twisters in the hallway, pretending she has not already left me.

Laura Besley is the author of micro fiction collection, (Un)Natural Elements (Beir Bua Press, 2021), 100neHundred (Arachne Press, 2021), and flash fiction collection, The Almost Mothers (Dahlia Books, 2020). Having lived in the Netherlands, Germany, and Hong Kong, she now lives in land-locked central England and misses the sea. She tweets at @laurabesley.

CAROL REEVES: Someday

Submissions, Touching, , ,

Where did he go, my one true love? I know where his ashes lie, but where are his essence, his humor, his flashes of brilliance? They say we will meet again someday. I trust that is true. With faith as my ears, I will follow the echo of his laughter.

A prolific writer, Carol Reeves is loving the freedom and challenges of 50 word stories. Her memoir, “All the Little Miracles,” was published last year.

SHOSHAUNA SHY: I Don’t Want Kids, She Told Me

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Took me three winters to finally get over you.

And there you are–in line at 40 Flavors Lickity-Split. I’d know that red braid anywhere.

Someone shifts their weight, and a cherub comes into view. He’s riding your hip.

I’m a cardboard bucket, my insides scraped out with a spoon.

Shoshauna Shy loves the word “nevertheless”, but wishes it had the counterpart “alwaysthemore.”