Unseen Roots by Martha Snell Our touring barge plows south through Mekong waters soon to arrive in the Delta. It’s been years, yet the names of these places are still f […]

He Died In Her Sleep Peter Wallace     Another Medicare commercial came on TV. It was getting to be time for bed. Brad knew that if he didn’t turn off the television and get […]

The Odd and Tender Clarity of 4 AM Kathleen McKitty Harris   Irish-American New Yorkers—especially those of the Catholic persuasion—have a knack for fatalist worst-case scenarios. Maybe it’s the indige […]

The Language of My Body by Chibuike Ukah I don’t blame my body for its language, for keeping its sacredness secure with words, its spleen tagging towards holiness and eternity, since I d […]

Booking It by E. H. Jacobs I was strolling with my wife in Brookline, Massachusetts, on a charming street with clothing and gift stores, Japanese restaurants, delis, and a […]

This year is forecast four winters and I can't save the burning world by Andreea Ceplinschi I, who have never known love like this for my kinfolk in a burning world I’m tired of loneliness rewiring this brain, tired of wasting time w […]

Yoga Today by Fred Wilbur   Among the activities of our local Parks and Recreation Department are youth sports (including cheerleading), a genealogy class, bingo, adult […]

The Bird Lives Here to Wait by Yucheng Tao ………….                                      ………To commemorate the victims of the Khmer Rouge we faced a large number of classroo […]

Lost Boots by Wendy Fontaine Wendy Fontaine is the 2nd place winner of Streetlight’s 2026 Essay/Memoir Contest I need to find my winter boots My daughter is home from c […]

The Alley by Alex Joyner Somewhere locked in geostationary orbit over Virginia, a satellite maintains its dumb stare. Prompt it with a series of numbers and you can provoke it […]

Foie Gras by Nathan Cover “What’s wrong with pear trees?” I ask, wondering if my dad is getting senile. “Well, they’re an invasive species. They’re not allowed to sell the […]

Not Unlike Damon and Pythias by Zachary Lundgren A friend once drove out of town so fast he didn’t know if he was headed north or south. He just wanted to make the coast and finally learn how t […]

2026 Poetry Contest Announcement by Fred Wilbur As I read this year’s contest entries, I accumulated a deep appreciation for the humans who invested the thought and energy to create them and who t […]

Bloodless by Martin Vest I don’t want to be eaten by a grizzly, my dad would say every time we were camping. But I wouldn’t want to be here if it weren’t possi […]

Pots for Art's Sake: A Look at Judd Jarvis's Work by Russell Hart Ceramic artist Judd Jarvis finds a thoughtful middle ground between form and function.  It’s tempting to suggest that Virginia’s famous red clay […]

The Kestrel Blues by Marjorie Gowdy   He perches      boldlyon the old phone wiredown Canning Factory Road. He sings      killy killy killya violent tune for a falconpainted in col […]

Splitting Wood by David Sapp It wasn’t when I got the hang of cursing, exquisitely and generously, tutored by the bigger kids at the back of the school bus. It wasn’t when I puf […]

On A Scale Of . . . by Wendy Kennar Wendy Kennar is the 1st place winner of Streetlight’s 2026 Essay/Memoir Contest Within my first few years of teaching, the district’s grading sys […]

Human Entanglement and Woman, Falling, 2 poems by Karl Meade Human Entanglement After they split the atom, broke our water into hydrogen, and hydrogen, and the oxygen you couldn’t breathe, we and the h […]