Doña Rosita’s Baby
Okay, Doña Rosita thought. We used to do that in India, too. Spells, bindings, amulets. Eggs circled and cracked around heads, on front steps. Coconuts smashed before front doors. l’ve done them all. Sandalwood sticks for Kali, coconuts for Avan, smudge for the Great Spirit. So, might as well…
I’m For You, If You’re For Me
Sure, they were real pros compared to Rex, but all they did was cover songs. Rex, though he could only strum a few chords, was a dreamer. The chords and melody came to him one night sitting alone in his apartment after a couple hits on a bong.
Twilight
Life is a libation pouring down chasms opening before it, into a geriatric underworld..
Fantasy Fiction Book Review: Secrets of Hopelight
The characters are powerful motivators to the spirit of individuality in a place where individuality is not the norm. I felt a close kinship to Nubbin.
Seder
Beitzah: check (the smell of the hard-boiled egg made her gag). Zero’ah: check. Charoset: check (and of course she scooped up some with her finger and licked it clean). In the centre hollow – maror and dates. I hope Irit and Mirele break a tooth on the seed. Expensive dentistry!
Quarterly & Special Issues
Submissions next open from June 1 to August 31 2024
December 29, 2023
Like melting mountain tops
to dehydrated souls,
aching, yearning,
parched beyond repair,
resting below
in pools of sorrow,
December 26, 2023
Second after second,
minute after minute,
hour after hour.
There is no bus stop.
There is no green light, yellow light, or red.
December 25, 2023
Holiday traditions are a big part of every family, regardless of religion. It’s a time to gather, hold close the ones you love, and create new memories. Our family had changed. There were some traditions we needed to let go of and others to which we held tight.
December 24, 2023
Mrs. Santa settled in a comfy tea chair.
Arranged her red dress and tidied her hair.
“Tell Mrs. Santa what you want to receive.
I will make sure Santa knows to put it on the sleigh before he leaves.”
December 24, 2023
forgotten relatives; broken candy canes; whipped eggnog; red dresses; knit sweaters with Santa designs; icicles from eaves; shiny red nail polish; long airport lines; mistletoe; turkeys in ovens; waiting in line to sit on Santa’s lap; hand knit mittens with matching scarves; spinning dreidels;
December 23, 2023
The ornaments on the tree matched the paper used to wrap every gift the bows were elaborate with matching ribbon…
December 22, 2023
Something was amiss in the kingdom but she didn’t know what it was or why she felt this way. But there it sat in the back of her head, a tiny pin prick of suspicion. Unlike her mother-in-law, the princess was an orphan so she had no parents to escape to.
December 21, 2023
Opening scene: close-up on a fireplace. So hyper-real we could almost feel the embers and we could certainly see and hear it crackling. The extreme close-up lingered. We sat watching for several minutes. Evelyn was enraptured.
December 20, 2023
When did life change?
When did I need to start selling heirlooms to buy oxygen?
When did Christmas become poems and paper?
December 19, 2023
Apart from import-friendly grocery stores in the United States, Ribena comes at a hard-fought effort. It also bears the calorie toll of sugar, both added and natural, and unnatural ingredients infused into the “black currant fruit drink” mix. A surprisingly delightful, and calorie-free alternative, comes in the form of Ahmad Teas Blackcurrant Burst.
December 19, 2023
I never believed the concept that animals didn't have thoughts, feelings, or emotions. And one Christmas Eve, my beloved lab-retriever mix, Sandy, showed me that I was right.
December 18, 2023
The idea of not having Christmas caused him to go into a tailspin, but within a week or two, he was back to talking about Calgary and everything he missed about it…
December 16, 2023
In this comics Emylle, our heroine, who’s a woman in a wheelchair with curly, short hair sits beside a friendly lion who shows her around the place. The lion greets her, "Oh Emylle, you’re gonna love it in here!”
December 15, 2023
Please enjoy Unexpected Delights, a beautifully themed issue of the MockingOwl Roost.
December 12, 2023
Our bedroom walls were shiny with posters of boy-band chests and bad-boy grins hiding unicorns and floral wallpaper. Our mothers fought us, our little sisters wanted to be us, our fathers avoided us.
December 10, 2023
As a thank you for the work, I brought you a gift.” From the little pocket of his work suit, he took out the book that increased the visual centimeters around his stomach. “While I was fixing the plumbing problems upstairs, the door at the bottom of the hall was open so I could see the many bookshelves you have there. I hope this novel adds to your already rich collection of covers and stacks of papers you keep in the room upstairs.”
December 9, 2023
In the morning, I look out over the vegetable patch. Leaves are scattered. There is a hole in one of the beds. Someone has been pinching my carrots. I notice paw marks on the conservatory window and a deep scratch on the glass.
“I think we have a visitor,” I say to my wife. “A squirrel.”
December 8, 2023
Three little girls were walking up the steep part of a dirt road toward the wooden railroad bridge. So much happened at the railroad bridge. It was where they could find all the other kids in the neighborhood who had bare feet and scabby knees like they had. It was a place to play, and talk, and underneath was a perfect hiding place.
December 7, 2023
As a person who has worked with the Foster Care system, this storyline grabs me by the throat. I found myself choking up as I read about the sorting of children, like socks, at Kringletown. Ryder didn’t deserve that. No child does.
December 6, 2023
“You still hungry?”
come words
from high glossed,
almost polished
lips to make my
date appear younger,
a beauty however.