CNF 5/6

Aug 21, 20221 min read

"Rite of Spring" by Virginia Foley

He sang Gershwin as we strolled down Montreal sidewalks, past budding trees confined to boulevard boxes, where dogs peed against them,...

Aug 21, 20221 min read

flash

"I think I can fly" by Jim Almo

CW: Implied violence I lean out from the wooden porch railing. Dry flakes of white lead paint chip off and mix with the sweat under my...

“Phone Notes from Dizzying Heights” by Beth Mulcahy

Aug 7, 20223 min read

creative nonfiction

“Phone Notes from Dizzying Heights” by Beth Mulcahy

Have you ever watched the sunset at cloud level? Watched it dip below the cloudline while you were right there with it, right there in...

"There Was A Storm, and Then There Was Us" by Belle Gearhart

Aug 7, 20223 min read

creative nonfiction

"There Was A Storm, and Then There Was Us" by Belle Gearhart

We are standing next to the car, and the sky is an open wound, misty and oozing, shades of pink beginning to interrupt the bruised gray....

"English for Cigarettes" by Shannon Frost Greenstein

Aug 7, 20222 min read

CNF

"English for Cigarettes" by Shannon Frost Greenstein

He grew up in Poland, a Catholic childhood with a proclivity for stoicism; pious, ascetic, the gift of intellect and his rock-hard work...

Jul 24, 20222 min read

CNF

"My brother is my dog" by Karen Walker

Dennis knocks on my door before 8 a.m. It’s a relief to see him. Like it is when Doug’s cold nose greets me in the morning. My older...

Jul 10, 20225 min read

CNF

"Bodies, Water" by Maud Lavin

Central Park Right below the Central Park Reservoir on a hot summer night, and the sex wasn’t even that great. We are dressed in our...

“Here’s a Picture of Me” by Patrick McNally

Jun 12, 20222 min read

creative nonfiction

“Here’s a Picture of Me” by Patrick McNally

Here’s a picture of me, my parents, and my brother Chris, back in 1982. They are dressed nicely, perhaps for church or some event. I am...

Jun 12, 20221 min read

creative nonfiction

"Queen of Wrath" by Russell Hehn

My 27-year-old mother is forever blasting down the bubbling asphalt of late-summer Mississippi in a sky-blue 1978 Mercury Cougar—so wide...

"Stranger in the City" by François Bereaud

Jun 12, 20223 min read

creative nonfiction

"Stranger in the City" by François Bereaud

Stranger in the City (Abijan, Ivory Coast, 1998) I was unable not to take a second look when I saw them walk through the hotel lobby to...

May 29, 20226 min read

CNF

"The Pickup Artist" by C. Ben Stevenson

Lana lit my hair on fire a couple weeks ago trying to light a stogie, so she crinkles her arm when we embrace to avoid a repeat singe....

"Incident at Harlem Hospital" by Kendall Johnson

May 29, 20223 min read

CNF

"Incident at Harlem Hospital" by Kendall Johnson

A word from the author: As a trauma therapist I was invited to Harlem Hospital to talk to the ER staff, ambulance crews, and doctors and...

"When I Remember How it Felt to be Thirteen" by Beth Mulcahy

May 1, 20222 min read

CNF

"When I Remember How it Felt to be Thirteen" by Beth Mulcahy

I think of the night I decided I couldn’t wait to not be thirteen anymore. It wasn’t a far drive; I only lived a few blocks up the...

May 1, 20222 min read

CNF

"Above the Canyon" by François Bereaud

From the sidewalk, my son and I watched the car in the opposite lane slow and execute a three-point turn, evoking a distant memory of...

"Fine Black Doctor" by Cassondra Windwalker

May 1, 20221 min read

creative nonfiction

"Fine Black Doctor" by Cassondra Windwalker

Harris was a bare patch in the middle of bigger patch of prairie, but folks were proud of being respectable, hard-working Christians....

Apr 17, 20227 min read

CNF

"To Her Coy Mister-ess" by Victoria Leigh Bennett

In the first place, I resented everyone and his neighbor commenting on or even seeming to concern himself with my soul or lack of one....

Mar 20, 20221 min read

creative nonfiction

"Bunylla Bean" by Levi Faulk

I stuff the happy yellow silken blooms into my pocket, my bunny rabbit’s favorite treat. I let them grow wild in my yard and harvest them...

Mar 20, 20222 min read

creative nonfiction

"Carry That Weight" by François Bereaud

CW: violence I spent a year wanting to kill a preacher. Inside the mother’s body, a child began to grow. I imagined medieval...

Feb 20, 202211 min read

CNF

"UNTITLED" by Lois L. K. Chan

ACT I The preamble. INT. ME - ALWAYS - UP UNTIL NOW I don’t call my mother’s father ’grandpa’. In English or Cantonese, it is a title...

Feb 20, 20229 min read

CNF

"Edges of Memory" by Kris Haines-Sharp

Rippling refers to the fact that each of us creates—often without our conscious intent or knowledge—concentric circles of influence that...