Quarterly & Special Issues
January 14, 2024
The email from British Airways popped up just as my sister and I arrived at Glasgow International Friday night before our flights home: “We're really sorry that your upcoming flights have been canceled.” A bonus day in Edinburgh? I knew just what I’d do.
January 13, 2024
I couldn’t understand why you kept calling our parents, the phone ringing repeatedly before Dad silenced it. “He wants money,” Dad whispered knowingly to Mom. I was too young to understand that you’d done this all before: drunk texts and calls, expectations of payment, always late at night.
January 9, 2024
We had been friends for over twenty-five years. More than a quarter of a century. I don’t know why I feel the need to emphasise the length of time we’d known each other, as if the more time invested the deeper the friendship. There is perhaps a strong correlation but no causation between length of knowing and love.
January 6, 2024
She rummaged through his coat pockets for a flask. He had, after all, the day before sworn off liquor, having literally gambled the shirt off his back in some bar’s backroom.
January 1, 2024
One weekend on Chinese New Year, we gathered in Trafalgar Square for the performance of the lion dance. Amid the throngs of people, we cheered and clapped for the dancers. We swayed to the traditional music.
December 31, 2023
I breathe and release the “now” for the true moment.
The snow swirls rapidly around me
whispering poems until I am lost in a personal snow storm.
December 30, 2023
What if I accept that I am, as you say, too much? Too much of stomach and too much of sag…
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!”