by Martha Anne Toll I first met Jody Hobbs Hesler at a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She was incredibly generous with my debut novel, THREE MUSES, and I am so happy to provide support to her debut launch. Jody says she has written “ever since she could hold a pencil.” … Continue reading
by Alice Lowe
At 79, she proudly claims and defends the word “old.” Further, there are no such things as “senior moments”; we all, at any age, forget where we left our keys or glasses now and then. Continue reading
Slates come off every spring, he tells his son. Ice works up under them all winter so a strong wind can kick them lose. Keep an eye out, he said, and the barn doors, tell the girl who feeds the horses to close them tight or the wind will tear them off. His son nods. She’s still coming, every day, that girl who said she would? His son nods but doesn’t look at him. He is older somehow, the top of his head a pink bowl. He asks his son again, feeling that old necessity working its way into his blood, drumming his heart faster than it should go. Check the fences by the road. Continue reading
I never thought to put coins on your eyes,/ shroud the mirrors in black,/
freeze the hands on the clocks— Continue reading
by Paulette Kamenecka
I came to think of myself as a traveler who’d picked up a pack of diseases through miscalculation or poor judgment—drinking the water in a place I shouldn’t have. Continue reading
Bobbi’s petticoat on a hanger
on her doorknob
bodice smooth as silk. Nobody’s looking
I strip off my shirt and pants slip it on
Continue reading
O children I forgot to have you
Didn’t want to be a bad parent
Like they who always said they’d
Bloom 