• A small red brick structure with a metal roof sits at the edge of a grassy cliff overlooking a wide blue body of water. The horizon stretches across the middle of the image beneath a soft sky that fades from peach to pink and pale blue. my lighthouse TEXT: Home, Elena Shirokikh, Poetry

    Home

    You are my anchor,
    my lighthouse,
    my comforting blanket,
    the earth that reminds me that my roots are stronger than I think
    when I feel ungrounded…

  • A CD case displaying the album I Trawl the Megahertz by Paddy McAloon sits centered against a deep maroon background. The cover features minimalist curved lines in red, blue, and black across a white field. Text above reads “The Painful Comforts of Loneliness: A Review of Paddy McAloon’s I Trawl the Megahertz,” with “Album Review” along the side and the MockingOwl Roost owl logo in the bottom right corner. I Trawl the Megahertz TEXT: The Painful Comforts of Loneliness: A Review of Paddy McAloon’s I Trawl the Megahertz, Emma Diehl

    The Painful Comforts of Loneliness: A Review of Paddy McAloon’s I Trawl The Megahertz

    This work soothes the heart as both a lullaby and an ode to the lonely, but its comfort also carries a clear warning: If we spend our lives living in the fantasies in our head, we will lose the lives we were meant to live.

  • Sunlight spills warmly between two towering, old trees whose thick, twisting trunks and wide branches stretch outward like open arms, their bright green leaves glowing against the golden light. The scene feels peaceful and hopeful, like a quiet invitation to care for the earth and watch something lasting grow. great tree TEXT: Mary Derringer, Plant a Tree on Arbor Day, Poetry

    Plant a Tree on Arbor Day

    When you plant a tree, you sow the thoughts of leafy morns and lovely afternoons. You plant the thoughts of beauty growing beneath the countless suns and moons…

  • A stylized illustration shows a hand gently holding a small mound of soil from which a leafy green tree and plants are growing. The background is a soft green gradient with glowing accents, giving a fresh, vibrant feel. The MockingOwl Roost owl logo sits near the base of the plants. Free Saplings TEXT: Celebration in a Tree City, Paula Frew, Poetry

    Celebration in a Tree City

    Trees, trees, trees
    everywhere we look
    line the streets.
    as though in a book.

  • A soft, watercolor-style illustration shows an old, weathered tree with a thick, twisting trunk and sparse, fading leaves clinging to a few bare branches. The tree stands alone on pale ground, surrounded by light washes of beige and muted green that give the image a quiet, reflective mood. The MockingOwl Roost logo appears to the left of the tree, reinforcing the piece as part of a literary publication layout. Every Spring TEXT: ELEGY FOR A TREE THAT FORGOT MY NAME; Joshua Walker; Poetry

    Elegy for a Tree That Forgot My Name

    I carved a heart you swallowed in bark
    not out of hunger,
    but ritual.
    Every autumn you let go
    more easily than I do.
    Every spring,
    you grew further from the boy who named you.

Quarterly & Special Issues

  • Poetry Special 2022 cover
  • Introspection issue cover
  • Sleeper of R'Lyeh cover
  • cover image of the MockingOwl Roost, Volume 1, Issue 4: Community
  • giant elephant in forest with a man standing in front of the elephant
🦉 Submissions next open from June 1 to August 31 2024
November 15, 2024
Domestic Violence Awareness special issue - cover of magazine in red and yellow, with manequins covered in caution tape - TEXT: Special Issue 2024 - Volume 4, Special Issue 2 - MockingOwl Roost Staff & Contributors
Published by The MockingOwls at November 15, 2024
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Domestic Violence Awareness – Special Issue of the MockingOwl Roost

Our final special issue of 2024 is here – an issue inspired by submissions discussing this challenging topic of domestic violence. Within its pages you’ll find […]
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November 3, 2024
Wishes at 11:11 - Birthday cake with flower and lit candle - text - 11:11 Flash Fiction Pooja Amritkar
Published by Pooja Amritkar at November 3, 2024
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11:11

But the next morning, to her amazement, a stray found its way to her doorstep and into her arms. From that day on, she was convinced of magic and the power of her wishes. Every year, on the night of her birthday, she’d close her eyes and make a wish at exactly 11:11. It started innocently at first – “Tell me the answers to tomorrow’s test”, “Make me popular at school”, “Jack should ask me out on a date” – and with every wish, she failed to see the repercussions her undeserving victories brought.
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October 31, 2024
Halloween in Brooklyn
Published by Jerry Slaff at October 31, 2024
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Halloween in Brooklyn

I was 12 that year, and my friends and I dressed up in our costumes and went trick-or-treating up and down the elevators… Every neighborhood has a witch, an old person every kid avoids, out of fear of something we couldn’t exactly grasp at 12. They were so foreign to my Yankees-loving, Keds-wearing self – their thick Yiddish accents, their mouths and ears seemingly oversized for their faces, the women smelling like talcum, the men of spittle and phlegm. But the scariest of them all was Mrs. Pincus, apartment 12B.
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