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Feb 19, 202312 min read
"The Little Monster Inside Me" by Karen Browne
An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanner has a little secret that only those who’ve been scanned know about. The time spent waiting...
Feb 5, 20234 min read
"Visitor Centers" by Tyler Dempsey
In my fancy Park Service clothes. Stupid hat and everything. First day “opening” the Visitor Center. With COVID, this means unfolding...
Jan 22, 20232 min read
"Tundra" by Wendy Newbury
When it’s all said and done, and the wild flowers have bloomed, mother forgets. At the moment, she oozes with passion from the thrill of...
Jan 22, 20231 min read
"One True Sentence" by Sherry Cassells
Yesterday was one of those snow-stormy I’m-not-going-out Saturdays so I built a fire and started writing a letter, longhand, but it came...
Jan 22, 20232 min read
"Winter Pastoral" by Selena Langner
The gas station is holding a squirrel cooking contest (prize: a plaque and a taxidermied squirrel trophy). It’s wearing a little flannel...
Jan 22, 202312 min read
"Uphill, Both Ways" by Jay Parr
It’s like waking up in a goddamn freezer. I reach out from under my mound of blankets to shut off the alarm clock and the air spills in...
Dec 26, 20223 min read
“Let’s Play Barbie” by Courtenay Schembri Gray
“Poets are damned… but see with the eyes of angels.” — Allen Ginsberg I look down and see a smiling cut, layered like an onion; a red...
Nov 27, 20226 min read
“The Seven Second Event” by Andrea Lawler
It’s the last weekend in September, and it’s warm for a fall night in North Dakota. I’m in the backseat of a Ford Zephyr, losing my...
Nov 13, 20226 min read
“Notebook Fragments: 2018-2022” by HLR
Content warnings: Mental illness, suicidality, self-harm, disordered eating, addiction, death, sexual assault. Notebook Fragments:...
Nov 13, 20224 min read
"Reasons I Cried During Pregnancy Part I and II*" by Melissa Flores Anderson
Reasons I Cried During Pregnancy Part I and II* Written in 2017 Part I I tend to be a bit of a crybaby already so it shouldn't have come...
Oct 30, 20222 min read
"Not Knowing" by Maud Lavin
The Midwest is a small-talk, large-silences place. Growing up in one of its small towns meant often not knowing the secrets were there,...
Oct 20, 202214 min read
"Learning to See" by Carol Forgash
Suddenly, it was second grade and we were allowed to walk to school together without a parent. We had to cross at the corner. If we...
Oct 20, 202226 min read
"5 Stops on the Road to Ruin" by Joseph Lezza
George Frederic Handel Hotel If you happen to be staying at the George Frederic Handel Hotel during your time in Dublin, and you’ve made...
Oct 17, 20224 min read
“Drifting” by Rachel Laverdiere
As we hit our first bout of turbulence, drifting across the Pacific, you flutter kick within me. My life has become monumental, yet I am...
Oct 2, 20222 min read
"The Meeting" by Catherine Bourassa
She is spirited, they say, a kind word for difficult. She is easily frustrated and prone to tantrums. Her preschool teacher once...
Oct 2, 20223 min read
"Chex and Balances" by Melissa Wabnitz Pumayugra
I think of her when I enter my kitchen. I think of her when I see fresh beets, used ashtrays, gleaming Oldsmobiles, or bright red hair...
Sep 18, 20221 min read
"A Greek Odyssey" by Lorraine Murphy
We journeyed for three days and nights, o’er land and sea to the distant island of Crete, ignoring our parents’ concerns. We could have...
Sep 18, 20222 min read
"PRAYER OF INTERCESSION RE: ST. BRIGID" by Shelby Rice
prissing quietly mother's hair frizzing around own jawline—curse your nose unhooked as glasses slip down. you have been asked to watch...
Sep 18, 20224 min read
"Those Damned Birds" by Emmy Teague
We didn’t think anything of it when the chickens started dying. There were always problems with animals hunting our birds. We lived on a...
Aug 21, 20225 min read
"Ganondagan" by François Bereaud
Despite the glares from the two officers, I thought we’d escaped. Once the twins got on the bus, we’d be off. Then, with one foot in,...
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