I Am Poetry
I can imagine myself as anyone or anything embracing weeds as well as peonies,
letting them simmer with contemplation
Calls from Behind a Door
Ignore my calls to stay hidden. Drag me out from behind this cobweb-scribbled door. I’ll pretend to be surprised when you scream in elation, when you hold your trophy close to your heart. Find me.
Lost For Words
should speak to you my long lost love
Prized Myths and Fairy Tales of the MockingOwl Roost
Welcome to the first prize winners issue of the MockingOwl Roost – the Prized Myths and Fairy Tales of the MockingOwl Roost. This beautiful collection of fairy tale and mythology-based flash fiction, micro-essays, and haiku/tanka sequence pieces come from authors around the world.
Borderline (Shepley Woods)
In the woods we are borders of our own creation, a witness to a different scene translations from black to white…
Quarterly & Special Issues
Submissions next open from June 1 to August 31 2024
December 17, 2022
“As I was leaving town, I saw it!
A man I did not know, wearing a crown of cheese.
Swiss cheese to be exact.”
December 15, 2022
Each piece published by our contributors and staff have this sense of "otherness" in the in-between space where words are never enough. Being a publication full of words, this was a unique challenge for authors, perhaps, but the community has done a beautiful job of showing this challenging space through stories that help give words to those feelings.
December 13, 2022
Holiday books not only make for excellent reading, but fantastic gift ideas that can be shared with the whole family for years to come.
December 11, 2022
Gingerbreading is crafting and creating, laughing and lauding. And when the holidays are over, it takes on one last, long-awaited meaning: smashing those beautiful little houses and feasting for a month (or more!) on all the melt-in-your-mouth pieces!
December 11, 2022
If you’re in a rut, consider stretching your wings to try a course you may not normally learn toward. It doesn’t have to be a university course, but something that will enrich your soul.
December 10, 2022
December 8, 2022
Alan Hlad artfully writes a well-researched, captivating story of love, loss, and fighting for human life that will leave you breathless. He thoughtfully and respectfully weaves his story through real life events, based on real individuals, during the last years of the war. This is a book where the heroine is as willy, intelligent, and kind as she is beautiful. The hero chooses the lives of others over his own security. They cared more about a happy ending for mankind than their own hearts, like so many of the people they represent.
December 4, 2022
It’s an amazing feeling to hold the first cup. The warmth oozes from the initial grasp of my hand into my wrist. I close my eyes and take a deep breath which refreshes my lungs and immediately brings all the happy emotions.
December 1, 2022
I feel that both Jack, (and the trilogy) should become classic holiday reading material. The Spirit of Christmas lives in these novels.
November 30, 2022
And we love small presses! But we want to expand our understanding of what they can look like and be a super personal, super effective small press that doesn’t just sell books but builds community for writers, editors, and readers as we do it.
November 15, 2022
When you open the bag of loose leaf Pecan Praline tea, you’re instantly transported to the deep south where pecan praline candies are basically a rite of passage. The sweet, indulgent aroma of the nuts and deep, dark leaves, the spices – they all make for the heady scent that recalls childhood and comfort wrapped in a grandmother’s hug.
November 13, 2022
It’s a simple thing. It’s something I’ve basically been doing for years. But I’ve never been intentional about it or removed distractions from my morning like this. It has been a fantastic experience. I highly recommend it to others.
November 9, 2022
Poppy Delamere is racing to save her sister from being accused of murder when she runs straight into the dashing Joshua Fielding, Duke of Langham. She finds herself agreeing to a staged betrothal in exchange for the Duke’s help. He gets protection from ring-seeking ladies while she has protection as she investigates to clear her sister’s name. It doesn’t take the entire week for more than one truth to be exposed.
November 7, 2022
But as I have developed my career as a writer and editor myself, I’ve learned to embrace and celebrate being edited. (And I do use this phrase intentionally; when our words are edited, it feels like we are being edited.)
October 22, 2022
I live in a world of my own, away from noise, crowd, and confusion, I understand your comfort is all gone, When normal me is just your illusion
October 1, 2022
September 26, 2022
A few years ago, a hurricane demolished the storage shed and several other things on my mother’s property. In so doing, the hurricane destroyed an item precious to my mother - and to me - a marbled, dark brown accordion which she found at a thrift store years ago when she was in college.
September 24, 2022
The colors are thrown like paper airplanes hard through our bodies, breathing in every drop of rainbow
September 21, 2022
Overall, The Forger’s Forgery is an exciting, intriguing literary fiction novel that keeps a reasonably quick pace, as long as you’re not expecting an action or thriller. The characters are vivid and memorable (even after a couple month gap at one point, the characters were still extremely present for me, even if the plot needed reminders!).
September 19, 2022
Each week, I make a to-do list full of things I need to accomplish on any given day. It could be fun things for the MockingOwl Roost, or maybe a tedious task for work. Whatever it is, it goes on the list. And the list is color-coordinated, with “categories” of life in different colors. For example, my grad school work is in green text, while work tasks are in red.