The Slap and the Word by Jean Romano The slap came before I could take a breath. I had just said the word “Jiao” the way Teacher Zhang had taught me, firm in my seven-year-old […]

Interests of Old by Fred Wilbur My teacher wife says that one learns by teaching. Of course, a good teacher must have mastery over the material to be taught. Another step of this […]

Accent by Abraham Kedong Ali   I write in an accent interposed by war school closure, hunger and starvation. I write in an accent interposed by the absence of my father, […]

The Man in the Golden Helmet by Harry Lee James I first saw “The Man In the Golden Helmet” in 1976 on a street corner in Monterey California. At that time he was labeled as “The C […]

A Tavern in The Village by David W. Berner Black-faced sheep stand still in the valley along the Great Western Railway line, filling their bellies with the grass of the English countryside. […]

Jasper Johns by Charles Rummelkamp   I read in the paper today was the birthday of the artist Jasper Johns, 95. I didn’t realize he was still alive. I remember him from Art Hi […]

Zoom Pleas by Anthony J. Mohr Along with her missing teeth, Ms. Goway’s head and puff of white hair were all I saw on the screen. She rattled her handcuffs and said she would try […]

Mixed Media Artist Jennifer Billingsly   There are mobiles of paper goldfinches flying, falling raindrops, and flower bursts along with fanciful collages and small, carefully […]

Ode to a Safety Pin by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg   Genius of oval, ovum, overlap capable of great feats, holding back the waterfall of too much cleavage or in my case, too vast a high […]

Our Winners by Susan Shafarzek We’re happy to announce the winners of the 2026 Streetlight Essay/Memoir contest. First Prize goes to Wendy Kennar for “On a Scale Of . . . ”, […]

The Anxious Overthinker's Guide to Conception by Sarah Stubbs OCTOBER I awaken with a visceral heaviness, like dread, in my lower belly. My phone informs me it’s hours before dawn. Peering around the t […]

Darkness Over America by Fred Wilbur Twenty five hundred years ago, the Buddha propounded (among other ideas) that nothing in existence is permanent. Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-C […]

It's Raining by Ben Sloan   At age five, after my country doctor grandfather dies, fascinated by the black-and-white photos in his discarded depression-era medical books […]

Coming Down the Mountain by E. H. Jacobs The way down is always harder than the way up. On the way up a mountain, your muscles strain to push you vertically. Going down, you’re already t […]

The Moon by Kenneth Boyd ………………………………………………………….Tarsila do Amaral (Brazil, 1928) Since you last crossed the still, moonlit […]

Good Friday by Kathleen McKitty Harris   My Irish Catholic grandmother—no slouch herself to rosary beads and the Stations of the Cross—had a friend, Wilma, who was far more pious than […]

Distances by Barbara Baer I’d already missed two periods before I went to Planned Parenthood in Berkeley. I knew the result before a woman asked if I wanted counseling. She h […]

Rush Hour Angels by Rosanne Trost A few years ago, I was driving home from work, encountering typical rush hour traffic. At a red light, the car radio went dead. The light turned […]

Same River, Different Day by Patrick Meeds Let me tell you uncomfortable I am with silence. I am handcuffed to a joke I can’t tell. Two crows are where my lungs should be. My exhales are t […]