Tag Archives: spotlight

‘Round Midnight by Terry Huff

Photo of hands playing a piano
 

                                                     for Thelonious Monk I have a table for one at The Five Spot Cafe. Monk is on stage with Miles Davis and Art Blakey. No one in his band disturbs the jazz genius, or waits for him to speak to them when his mood is no brighter than his E Flat Minor. His melodies are the words his black fingers play on black and white keys for a black and white crowd, with a band always ready to follow Monk’s lead. He may change a play at the line of scrimmage, sending Blakey in … Continue reading ‘Round Midnight by Terry Huff

Stop the Car by Scott Weaver

Photo of tree-lined road
 

1842 On a Midwestern tour to drum up support for a second presidential run, Martin Van Buren had the bad fortune of passing through Plainfield, Indiana. A year and a half before, Van Buren had been swept out of office. The Panic of 1837, the worst economic depression in the country’s short history, had so frightened and upset voters that they’d elected the sixty-eight-year-old war hero William Henry Harrison, sending Van Buren out into the wilderness, political and otherwise. The people of Plainfield had a local beef with Van Buren. Tucked away in in what … Continue reading Stop the Car by Scott Weaver

Playing Mahler at Minus Twenty by Katrin Talbot

Photo of woman looking out from bridge
 

Windchill, the minor key that blows in with the horns Tremolo, a shimmer of ice, the roads we drive to rehearsal Crunchy German, heftig, Plötzlich, the sounds of our boots on the snow towards the hall Six flats, icicles hanging by the wall of clef The thaw of Adagietto— sehr langsam open-heart surgery And, on the way to the garage, our tears freezing for this unfathomable life. Australian-born Katrin Talbot’s collection The Devil Orders A Latte was just released from Fernwood Press and The Square Footage of Awe is forthcoming from Kelsay Books. Falling Asleep … Continue reading Playing Mahler at Minus Twenty by Katrin Talbot

The Spirit Room by Claire Massey


 

The spirit room is cold, not morgue-cold but goosebump chilly from October on. Maddie zips her hoodie and pulls the under-desk heater dangerously close to the soles of her dying Nikes. There’s a hole forming above her big, left toe and if she smells melting rubber, there will be a bigger hole in her budget. New shoes will have to get in line. The positions she had tried for, production artist, illustrator, assistant gallery curator, never materialized, and she’s stuck in the basement of the Sabine River precinct as a bottom-dwelling, part-time police sketch artist, … Continue reading The Spirit Room by Claire Massey

Watercolors and Drawings by James Ellis

Painting of white hanging flowers
 

  Watercolors came naturally to artist James Ellis. “The summer I finished elementary school I discovered my mom was taking a watercolor painting class,” he remembers. “I watched her arrange her palette and paints, ready her favorite brushes, set up a tiny watercolor board on a tiny easel, and then paint that morning’s model, a small white vase decorated with a blue printed illustration of a Chinese farmer. The vase held a few black-eyed Susans. My mom worked quickly, and in less than an hour she produced an exquisite rendering. My mom had suddenly transformed … Continue reading Watercolors and Drawings by James Ellis

Down the Shore by John Adinolfi

podcast fiction
 

Streetlight Voices: Short Fiction & Memoir · Down the Shore by John Adinolfi Podcast: “Down the Shore” is about the rhythm of the sea and a marriage. A fictional story performed by Jennifer Sims. Read the story online: “Down the Shore” by John Adinolfi Jennifer Sims is an actor and voice over artist who has voiced hundreds of projects across all genres. After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts she wandered into a career in advertising. She worked as an ad agency producer for ten years before she found her way back to her … Continue reading Down the Shore by John Adinolfi