Featured Works: Week of March 18 (Early Spring)
The last gasps of winter weather strike the Northern Hemisphere, as more and more, we see hints of growing warmth. This week’s contributors look at Spring. “Spring Came Early This Year” by Michael H. Brownstein proffers the first glimpses of spring. “Raw” by Jenica Lodde depicts twin distractions of spring and motherhood. “Dusk at Preston Montford” by Brian Cronwell gives us a snapshot of spring in Shropshire,...
Read MoreDusk at Preston Montford
Shropshire, England, 1983 First, the silence. Then, the green of poplars in a row like a solemn waiting chorus, motionless. The wood-and-wire fences, brick wall: borders marking edges. A silent Severn, wet line seen through boughs. At first. Then, the leaves at the top of poplars, waving in a slight breeze. Fresh cow dung, dried dung, green grass, dry weeds. Purple and white flowers. A wildness uncontained by fences. Down the path, shadows of dusk lead on to the River. The Severn moves in a gentle way: an angler’s plunk, the call of a pigeon, ripples of far-off cars, ferns...
Read MoreRaw
It’s like someone took an eraser to my executive function. I forgot to make myself coffee this morning. Coffee! Can you imagine? The one thing in my life that turns my insides to juice, slipped my mind. And the librarian had to dismiss me from the desk after she checked out my books. “It’s ok. You’re all good. You can go now.” Because I was waiting for something else to happen. Just staring and waiting. Driving home the trees with their thin branches pierce me. The fat robins jumping—I feel the weight of them. I have to clean out the mouse cage before my daughter’s birthday...
Read MoreSpring Came Early This Year
Spring came early this year, the robins arrived in February and the great mulberry tree began to develop its harvest before spring thought itself able. We wondered why so many nests and so many birds found themselves in the branches, but it did not matter— there were enough for all of us even after the week long rain, the cold spit, the great frost, mulberries everywhere, enough food for a season a season too...
Read MoreFeatured Works: Week of March 3 (Aging)
As Winter gradually ekes away and spring’s renewal approaches, it’s a good time to reflect on life cycles, and in particular, aging. “Recognized” by Michael Keshigian reflects on the nature of aging. Literally. In “Old Clyde and Mrs. Hill,” a short prose piece, David Sapp recalls elderly neighbors from childhood. “The Blurring of Edges” by David Sapp traces the changes in thinking from youth to maturity. “The Garden of Ramanatom” by Thomas Dorsett is a lyrical look at how nature’s life cycles mimic our...
Read MoreThe Garden of Ramanatom
I tell them about entropy—March buds ignore me— Boltzmann’s equation nobody believed, It killed him. Lawn’s growing verdant new hair— New strands shall wave at admiring chicks; the bald spot will vanish by June. (That’s not how it worked with me.) Each crocus emanating from old roots; morning glories shall hang from the trellis like a bunch of resurrecting kids— Rip van Winkle is a katydid, an old bug renewed by spring’s copy machine; even if a meadowlark devours him, his kin will look exactly like his parents, no rose would notice the difference. Like Dorian Gray, I’ve...
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