Loving My Neighbor
“If this is all we were to each other—mere vessels to catch the overflow, mute as clay, incapable of response—elbow-to-elbow living would not be so taxing. But we do not, alas, just gape at the misshapen fruit. We turn it over in our hands, we nibble and gnaw, we even bite into it, honing our teeth.” Continue reading Loving My Neighbor
Two Poems
the closed door so frank, so telling
in its silence, like a tongue at rest
Four Poems
She travels through me
opening every door she can,
her pockets heavy with keys. Continue reading Four Poems
Something About a Black Boy
A revolution rests
behind his eyes
where the tears of
mothers sleep Continue reading Something About a Black Boy
The First Thing I Wrote on This Retreat Was Not Supposed to Be About My Mother
But this is not about deer, though looking for them is a fine distraction. Continue reading The First Thing I Wrote on This Retreat Was Not Supposed to Be About My Mother
Navigation Song
I, too, am a bit Obsessed
with my own wind-tossed turning Continue reading Navigation Song
Symptoms of Manhood
I am all unstruck flint &
lost potential. Continue reading Symptoms of Manhood
The Commuter’s Dream
Each night David’s wife said, “I’ll just help him down.” But when David entered the room an hour later, the crib was always empty. Mother and child lay in bed, asleep in a way he himself never slept. Light from the small lamp, transmuted by canary-painted walls, cast the bedroom in parchment tones. It’s like a new world, he thought, like seeing land from the … Continue reading The Commuter’s Dream
Petaki Road
Petaki Road was as far from town as a person could get without leaving: six miles of blacktop running parallel to the county line, hemmed in by corn and soy fields to the east and a sheer cliff face to the west. Road crews and snowplows rarely visited. As soon as inmates were released from Wannehsookah Penitentiary they found shelter on Petaki Road, or they … Continue reading Petaki Road
Deep Dreams
My father was a monster hunter. He believed in chimeras and yetis. When he looked into the ocean, he saw shadows lurking beneath it. Mother Nature didn’t like being bothered by humans, and she always had a full stock of ammunition to keep them out. It was his job to expose her armies so that children wouldn’t be swallowed by serpents. The monster he … Continue reading Deep Dreams
Review of Premonitions by Elizabeth Schmuhl
Schmuhl takes her readers on a journey to a place where nothing is fixed and challenges readers to look inward Elizabeth Schmuhl’s debut collection, Premonitions, is a collection of complex yet simple pieces in motion inviting readers on a journey through life. This collection of 59 poems first stands out with how they are organized: none of the poems in Premonitions are titled. Instead, they … Continue reading Review of Premonitions by Elizabeth Schmuhl
Review of The Loneliness Cafe by Richard Dokey
Sixteen strange stories explore the human need for connection. The Loneliness Café is a collection of sixteen short stories that sit together within the pages like a family—all of them share some similarities that make the pages flow, but each is clear and distinct from the rest. Throughout the collection, from “Eddie and Larry and Phil,” a story about a man forming a bond between … Continue reading Review of The Loneliness Cafe by Richard Dokey