Stephen Dobyns: Stories
All stories, as they reach their end, are sad.
The rain comes; the night falls; Malone dies alone.
Aesop: The Frogs Ask for a King
Once upon a time, the Frogs were discontented because they had no one to rule over them: so they sent a deputation to Jupiter to ask him to give them a King.
Jonathan Waterlow: The jokes always saved us — humor in the time of Stalin
In a world of stifling conformity and endless fake news, even simple satirical barbs can serve as a profoundly personal assertion that ‘I joke, therefore I am.’
Molly Fisk: Peace
One of those days when the grain of a wooden table
seems more certain, as if ordained, when gravity feels
like praise
Peter Schireson: Woof
I take Buster out for his walk, above us, wild geese fly south, honking, going nowhere, geese without edges, no longer geese. Where did they go? asked Baso. “Away,” Hyakujo … Continue reading
Peter Schireson: Cauliflower Soup
I try and get it right, how she loves the cauliflower soup in that little Italian place uptown with dark red walls and the grumpy old maitre d’ with … Continue reading
Daniel R. Cobb: Time to Breathe
I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that life has been far more stressful over these last… oh… two years? The continuous meltdown in DC sends shockwaves around … Continue reading
Susan Sonde: Random Motion
Lord, pledge all Your juices. I come alone tonight and solitude narrates what my voice sees in the klieg lights of December. The earth evolves . under its belt of … Continue reading
Tales of the Holy Man
Word spread across the countryside about the wise Holy Man who lived in a small house atop the mountain. A man from the village decided to make the long and … Continue reading
