By Debra J. White Money doesn’t grow on trees, nor is it in my bank account. I’m in my twilight years, recently turned seventy. I’ll probably die without a hefty stock portfolio, or wads of cash stashed underneath my bed. Just as well. I can’t take it with me beyond. Then again, no one else … Continue reading Money Talks But Not To Me
Hardwired
By Jill Sisson There were a lot of them, a small crowd of pronghorns, shining like bits of lightning on the sagebrush hills just outside the small town of Worland, Wyoming. I was part of a three-person crew of field biologists, all of us in our mid-20s, crammed in a government rig to inventory and … Continue reading Hardwired
That Smile
By Ahming Zee The fairest day in hapless mortal’s life Is ever first to flee. --Virgil, Georgics I got laid off last summer – the act of Murphy’s Law that is said to occur at least once in a lifetime – it occurred right after I had booked my trip to Beijing to visit my … Continue reading That Smile
Psalms of Hiawatha
By B Shawn Clark July 16, 2019 Carl Sandburg Home Flat Rock, North Carolina The man stood with quiet rectitude peering above a flat rock into the dense forest beyond. Here the great poet and biographer, who used to live at the farm just up the hill would retreat to a spot far enough from … Continue reading Psalms of Hiawatha
Heritage
By Huma Farid My lineage is a black hole, adrift from the reality of my present. I stand alone, an alien amongst those who have casually, thoroughly laid claim to a land that could not be claimed. I wonder: what must it feel like for your ancestors’ memories to shape your history? What must it … Continue reading Heritage
Strangers on the Tram
By Mirela-Andreea Rotariu Trapped in the bronze, weathered gaze of the trumpeter with no body, I willed myself to take a few steps back, realizing I had been staring at the sculpture for too long. It was a rather abstract depiction. Mounted on a lusterless, white pedestal, the figure’s hands stood erect holding the trumpet, … Continue reading Strangers on the Tram
Reaching for Light + Others
By Victor Fu-Zhou Reaching for light This photograph grabs a frozen moment of wonder as a child stretches up toward a ceiling of shining bulbs and swinging chains. Photographed in stark black and white, the image draws the eye to contrast—between shadow and light, innocence and complexity, earthiness and aspiration. The composition lifts the eye … Continue reading Reaching for Light + Others
The Endless Day
By Penny Nolte The station is packed and no wonder. Our train is delayed because of the storm and no one knows when it will get through, that’s good news for us because otherwise we’d have missed it. The trip is my present, because I hate to fly. We are taking a sleeper car all … Continue reading The Endless Day
June Micro Memoir Contest: Gold Winner: “Ghosts of Guayabas” by Evangeline Sanchez
My Abuelita takes great pride in her garden, in the trees she tends to. They grow tall, bright, and abundant like the family she created. Plump pomegranates overflow in buckets, purple figs swell and hang right above our heads, small limes cluster like tiles in a mosaic of green among verdant leaves, and aromatic guayabas … Continue reading June Micro Memoir Contest: Gold Winner: “Ghosts of Guayabas” by Evangeline Sanchez
June Micro Memoir Contest: Silver Winner: “What’s Eternal?” by William Hong
“Aja! Aja!” Moving his arms, tanned and burly from extended periods of labor but simultaneously frail and wrinkly towards the tips of his old fingers, my Grandpa, in his mid-seventies, clapped his hands to and fro with a cheery tone of encouragement as he briskly climbed up the half-paved mountainous path. Dragging my feet along … Continue reading June Micro Memoir Contest: Silver Winner: “What’s Eternal?” by William Hong
Academy of the Heart And Mind 