Tag Archives: joy

LISA ZIPPILLI: Reclamation

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , , , ,

She often wept in mourning over a life she deemed wasted… unfulfilled.

She’d always had one singular purpose but at 43, that ship had long sailed.

Shame from decades of destruction and despair evaporated into rapture as she watched the positive result appear on the stick she’d just peed on.

Although Lisa struggled with severe mental health issues for many years, she worked tirelessly to rise above and find joy. She works part-time helping others dealing with mental illness while also soaking up the incredible joy she’s found in her beautiful, healthy 2 month old baby girl… her constant reminder that the Universe will always rise up to meet us.

CANDACE KUBINEC: The Facade

Submissions, Touching, , ,

It was the ghost of a smile you tried to hide behind a calloused hand. That was the first crack in your prickly facade: a secret sense of humor you tried valiantly to keep in check.

When that grand guffaw was set free, I knew you had a tenderness inside.

Candace Kubinec says: Go ahead, laugh out loud. You’ll feel better.

HANNAH STEVENS: Flying

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

What seemed like an infinite amount of time passed in about three seconds. She experienced the glorious sensation of what seemed to be flying. All of her worries vanished, except that for a split second, just before she hit the tarmac, she found herself asking, “Wait, why did I jump?”

Hannah Stevens has always had a passion for reading and writing. She is fifteen years old and has a weakness for words.

J SCOTT MERRICK: Mom’s Lesson

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, ,

Mom danced fluidly with an infectious smile. Then, some upbeat excuse, “We ran the 5K.” No reason to add downer to congestive heart failure and cancer.

After recovering, Mom smiled, bobbed to the music, and another took her hand to dance as her less vivacious contemporaries, with longer futures, watched.

J. Scott Merrick lives in Portland, Oregon and writes fiction when he is not in Portland. He has a few degrees. However, when applied to Mr. Merrick, MFA usually means Mother-F’ing Attorney. Previously, he has not published in Paris Review, Tin House, or New Yorker.

PHILIP ZUNZUNCITO SEQUOIA: Elation

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , , , ,

I could go on about spirituality or a higher wossname
But this marvelous feeling I have upon finally discovering Carfury Menhir
After a glorious twelve mile walk
Can be explained away in terms that are entirely scientific
All the same I believe that I’m going to have to sing again

Philip Zunzuncito Sequoia once appeared (briefly) on the popular Channel 4 quiz show 15 To 1.

SHARK TRAGER: Logophobia

Submissions, Touching, , , , , ,

Words terrify me. Their power and immediacy. Will you marry me? Changing everything. Just an articulation of speech. I do. Words transforming worlds. Like a head on collision. It’s a girl. Easier than falling from a great height. I don’t love you anymore.

So I just say nothing these days.

Shark Trager struggles with finishing his works of artistic frivolity so has taken to writing microfiction because not finishing a 50-word story is less reckless.

Cedar Dust and Sore Shoulders

Touching, , , , , , ,

She heard the saw cease its whirring.

Her love stomped in, dewdrops of sweat lining his creased forehead, clutching a crude cedar carving of a heart.

He had suffered so much, and still laboured under the weight of the memories, but today, it seemed, his stomps fell a little lighter.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

This story is based on a title suggested by @PoshPlatypus.

Unlikely Ascension

Artistic, Touching, , , , , , , , ,

When we finally summited Mount Kilimanjaro, the last thing we expected to see was a withered old man in an all-terrain wheelchair, surrounded by ten burly sherpas.

He looked at us with pale, watery eyes and said, “Remember, friends: money can buy you neither happiness nor salvation.”

Then he smiled.

This story is based on a title suggested by Jeremy Quinn.