My eyes, full of my husband’s body thinning, swelling, sleeping— too full to notice the plant, six feet tall, emerald leaves splitting, fraying the air. One, then another branch breaks, piercing my myopia. I weigh a faux substitute I can’t kill. Then think of my man, how this is his Costa Rica across from his TV and chair. Double down—spend a few hundred dollars, buy a pot large enough to hug, two fat bags of soil. Hire two strong men to tip the plant, coax it from its stranglehold into the large container without crushing. … Continue reading The Investment by Jacqueline Coleman-Fried→
“If the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” —Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle Autumn is usually a time for renewed outdoor activity as usually summer heat and humidity subside. But usually has become a problematic qualifier. It seems that nothing in nature, in politics, in religion, or in human culture can be counted on to give us reassurance that “all’s right with the world.” My wife and I traveled recently to Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fallingwater;” an outing which … Continue reading Water, Water, Everywhere: Lessons of Water by Fred Wilbur→
Why does she get all the praise just because she pushed the witch into blood-burning flames it was me who gathered shiny white pebbles glistening like promises under a gibbous moon it was me who scattered breadcrumbs not my fault they were eaten by a murder of crows, slick and black it was me who the witch was fattening waiting like a flesh-eating ogress with taloned fingers and frenzied hair it was clever me who offered her the scrawny bone instead of my fleshy finger it was me, clever me, who whispered to Gretel tell … Continue reading Hansel by Claire Rubin Scott→
Katherine Slaughter has earned an Honorable Mention in Streetlight’s 2024 Essay/Memoir Contest Oppenheimer: Back to the Future In the movie theater, I clenched my shoulders and hunched in anticipation of the blast; I could feel the tightness in my jaw. The time between the image and the subsequent sound of the explosion was akin to the space between a lightning strike and a thunderous storm: the interminable wait until the explosion erupted with all its furious sound. Viscerally, I had a sense of generational deja vu. I had grown up in the 1940s and … Continue reading The Oppenheimer Retrospective by Katherine Slaughter→
Cyndy Muscatel is the 1st place winner of Streetlight’s 2024 Flash Fiction Contest Dressed only in her pajamas and Ugg slippers, Rebecca grabbed the parka off the hook and flung it over her shoulders. The weather had turned cold right after Thanksgiving–outside the wind had picked up, scattering leaves and tossing snowflakes hither and thither. She shivered, castigating herself for leaving her book bag in the car. How forgetful could she get? She must have been in a hurry last night when she came home from work. She knew better than to leave anything … Continue reading Midnight by Cyndy Muscatel→
Dominik Slusarczyk is the 2nd place winner of Streetlight’s 2024 Flash Fiction Contest We stay up all night drinking. When we eventually crawl into our tents the sun is already half way up. the rest of our party are getting up, ready to start their day, as we finish ours. —- “Being awake during the day is better” Jim says. There are multiple sizzling frying pans on the fire behind him. We are cooking bacon, eggs, steaks, anything the people cooking could find. The smell of the food fills the air and makes my … Continue reading Holidays by Dominik Slusarczyk→
1. Losing The Plot Think of being unable to tell someone what your work-in-progress is about as a seriously suspicious mole; a flashing warning sign. The ability to succinctly explain the main thrust is important—mostly for yourself, to keep you on track as you scribe away. Whether your style is Southern—with tons of Spanish moss draped over every curvy line (à la Faulkner), or bare bones, tersely measured sentences (like Hemingway’s), having a concise destination in mind limits a lot of tragic meandering. For everyone involved. 2. Boring Your Audience Minutia is draining. And minutia … Continue reading 5 Writing Pitfalls To Avoid by Erika Raskin→
Deborrah Corr has earned an Honorable Mention in Streetlight’s 2024 Poetry Contest The red onion is a purple globe. I hold it, let my skin adore its slick, smooth contours. Then I bear down with a knife. A slice reveals a maze. No, I’ve misspoken. I’m mistaken. There are no passages with doorways through which you wander, puzzled how to get to the center and find your way back again. Just white corridors, inescapable layers, lined in lilac. Rotating, arriving always where you started. I begin to think monotony. I think hospital hallways, blank anxiety. … Continue reading The red onion by Deborrah Corr→
Fiction is the lie that tells the truth. The truth is that there was a fire, six people died, and it was intentionally set. The spirit of Lisa prevails to help us understand … all of it. *** Lisa Landers, age seven September 26, 1969 A chess game: that was the dream. My brother Harry had been teaching me how to play. But now, instead of moving the pieces around the board, I WAS one of the pieces: little, with a round head, a pawn. A giant’s hand blocked the light as it reached down … Continue reading A Matter Of Time by Janis Jaquith→
The first thing Sam Abell entreats his workshop students to do is imagine their photographs without a primary subject. “I cover up the subject with my hand and ask, is there still a photograph under here?” says the celebrated National Geographic photographer, who has lived just west of Charlottesville for going on fifty years. “The answer, almost always, is no.” That can be a tough lesson for eager photographers, but it’s easier to swallow coming from such a calm and sympathetic teacher. It makes a difference, too, that Abell has always practiced what he … Continue reading For Albemarle’s Sam Abell, Photographs Come from Within. By Russell Hart→
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