LISA MARIE LOPEZ: The Things We Said

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

We were playing catch in my backyard when Billy started in with his stories.

“My dad met Willie McCovey once.”

My face twitched. “Yeah? Mine met Willie Mays.”

Truth was, neither of us had a father. Still, I pretended to believe Billy’s stories, even though I couldn’t believe my own.

Lisa Marie Lopez resides in Northern California with her husband and two box turtles. She’s been recently published in The Ocotillo Review, From the Depths literary journal, and The Atomic Flyswatter: Vol.1 anthology. Say hello on her Facebook page.

SUSAN SAGARIN: The New Normal

Submissions, Touching, , ,

For decades, Stacy’s bedtime was three a.m., after Channel Four played the Star Spangled Banner and signed off for the night.

Now, Stacy and Channel Four are always on. At three a.m., she is spooning Dilaudid into her mom’s mouth.

Stacy hums the anthem. Her mom’s eyelids flutter, then close.

Susan Sagarin retired from Bloomberg Industry Group in 2020 after a 30-year career as an editor and content specialist. Her fiction, nonfiction, and recipes can be found at inspirationonafternoonlane.com.

MARJAN SIERHUIS: A Fresh Start

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I open my window and lean out.

I shout for joy as people sing and dance in the streets below.

Snowflakes drift from the night sky, touch flushed cheeks, and then disappear.

I am at peace and in good health.

Let us rejoice as we all make a fresh start.

Marjan Sierhuis wishes everyone a healthy and joyful new year.

YASH SEYEDBAGHERI: Home

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You live with white walls, an oak desk. Collections of Yates. Richard Ford.

This year, there’s no dirty jokes. No spaghetti sauce bubbling with tomato-colored cheer.

No hugs, lavender perfume, butter-colored lights blanketing you.

Just Zoom, accentuating shadows. You can’t feel polished stairways. Savor angles and doorways.

The lights dim.

Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA fiction program. Yash’s work has been published in The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts and Ariel Chart, among others. He lives in Garden Valley, Idaho.

JENNIFER L FREED: In the Produce Section

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Rachel’s been furloughed; she can’t afford to have groceries delivered.

She lives with her 78-year-old mother. Her teenage daughter has asthma.

She takes a spare mask from her purse and holds it out to the young woman picking through the peaches. “Please. It’s not for your freedom; it’s for ours.”

Jennifer L Freed writes mostly poems, and sometimes writes very short stories. Please visit her website at jfreed.weebly.com.

DUANE L HERRMANN: To Be A Brilliant Star

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“Your star was getting dim today.”

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Benton answered. “He just made me so angry.”

“I know. Here’s something I’ve learned: Do something nice for someone who doesn’t like you. They’ll see you differently, and be nicer to you.”

“That’ll be hard.”

“But worth it. You’ll shine again.”

Surprised to find himself on a Kansas farm in 1951, Herrmann is still trying to make sense of it, but in that time he’s fallen in love with the vast sky, wind waving grass, moonlight, and the shade of trees. He tries to write about some of these.

EILEEN MARDRES: The View

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A sliver of sky, beacon of hope, connection to the wider world embraced by towers of urban life.

I watch morning’s rebirth, bright orange bursts slowly fading into daylight blues, then twist into my pillow of despair until midnight moon penetrates, connecting me again to the world outside my cell.

Eileen writes poetry and flash fiction and letters to her grandkids. She has used the pandemic as an excuse to spend more time writing.

ROBERTA SCHINE: Yoga Class for People with Parkinson’s

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I stick a long piece of electrical tape to the floor and announce, “Today we’re going to walk on a tightrope.”

Katherine says, “I think I may need my walker for this!” She bursts out laughing. We join in.

There are cheers for each person who completes this daring act.

Roberta Schine is a yoga instructor, immigration activist, and writer. She teaches yoga classes for People with Parkinson’s and for People with Cancer at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital. Her writing has appeared in Portside.org, Bordernews.org, Hawansuyo.com, Perigrinosysuslettras.org, and other literary magazines.

JIM LATHAM: What the Sisters Saw

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The day the government blinded the boys, their sisters sang them home.

Not one girl led her brother by the hand.

Looking ahead to decades of caretaking, the sisters saw they would have only one chance to teach the newly sightless boys to listen and keep their hands to themselves.

Jim Latham is a writer, hiker, and traveler. More of his writing can be found at jimlatham.substack.com.