The Pleasure of Ruins by Trudy Hale Not too long ago, I was walking my black lab down Norwood Road when an acquaintance stopped his truck to chat. He said he was concerned about my […]

Message by Mary Christine Kane Last night I called you. Moon sharp, I said, like an important message. Look up. The sky has opened its story and shined its shy star. It’s a p […]

Susan Northington Looks to the Horizon     The horizon line has long been a source of inspiration for landscape artist Susan Haley Northington. She remembers growing up in S […]

and yet the moon by Nimisha Mondal your father is dying on the other side of the world and yet, the moon shines into our bedroom my mother has broken her ankle and can’t walk […]

Allison Moves In by Margie Shepherd   Allison did not come to the decision to move in with Gregory lightly. She loved her little apartment, absolutely loved it. It was a source […]

Writing History's Happenstance by Fred Wilbur During my older sister’s annual visit last fall, three shoe boxes came into the house with her luggage. After the usual greetings and settling i […]

In a Chapel Near the Loire by Elisabeth Murawski The pulpit floats high above the chairs. She cranes her neck to see, twists a little clockwise to hear. The priest’s suspended t […]

Return to Civilization by Elizabeth L. Delaney Two 584-million-mile trips around the sun—the only traveling any of us could do. Two sets of birthdays and anniversaries and seasonal accoutrement. I […]

It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll . . . at 1 p.m. on a Wednesday by Celia Rivenbark Oh, thank you, Jamie Lee Curtis, for bringing to the nation’s attention a problem that many of us, er, “seasoned citizens” have been too embar […]

Not Every Deed by Tom Gengler Not every deed in the annals of my family was given an account. It could not be. But the gospel writers and eyewitnesses each translated […]

Paintings by Vivian Calderón Bogoslavsky   When I was little, I was very restless at school, and the teachers made me leave the classroom, wander around and come back. When I came […]

Forehand Drive by Amy Foster Myer “How much further down you think it is?” He turned to look at me in the backseat as he drove. Through the front windshield, dark streets I did […]

The Owl by Deborrah Corr From the branch above, half concealed in new oak leaves, silent, the barred owl watches with giant eyes, round as the pool at my feet. Its […]

I Can't Believe It. I Forgot to Read Jane Austen! by E. H. Jacobs I can’t help thinking about what I haven’t read. Every year, I try to read at least one piece of classic literature that I had overlooked, never got […]

In the After by Sarah E. Laughter My favorite photograph shows my children trudging through a cold, whispering creek hand in hand.  The afternoon light filters through the canopy, […]

Parma, Idaho by Craig Brandis                                 Mounds of sugar beets under                          halogen, marooned in pressure                    […]

An Audio Book Report And Relevant Field Trip by Erika Raskin I listened (why hold a hefty book aloft when you don’t have to?) to Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions For You and shared the following […]

The Old Man by Richard Weaver In the darkening slush of afternoon traffic, he unfolds a chair beneath a lone sycamore then urges his body into its crooked shape. Always at this […]

We Celebrate Our Winners by Susan Shafarzek It’s a pleasure—and also a great privilege—to announce the winners of this year’s Streetlight Essay/Memoir Contest. This year’s submissions made an a […]

Bonnie's Spell by Tonja Matney Reynolds Bonnie usually loved the drive to Aunt Edda’s house. She’d peer out the backseat window as her mother drove along the section of highway ove […]