A Review of The Bride!: Does Violence Help Visibility?
I am a horror fan, be it book or movie. I’m not squeamish about film violence when it feels appropriate. So I’ve struggled with this caveat in The Bride!
Autumn Rain
It was raining leaves, and he was outside trying to catch each one with his rake, as if to catch every drop…
First Summer, A Debut Lit-Fic Review
The novel was exactly what I needed in the moment: comforting, summer vibes neatly packaged in about two-hundred pages.
One Good Turn
**Contains Triggers: Mentions of Child Death or Harm** We co-existed peacefully once, with hardly a sighting, but then something happened. The Chitids became aggressive, killing humans en masse — especially targeting our children.
Escape Plan
Okay let’s go away, so you say, oh so if, could this seem, where the heavens, and the winds led the currents astray.
Quarterly & Special Issues
Check Submission Guidelines to find out when we are next open for submissions
May 16, 2026
Come play with the saiga, mustangs, and bobcats in the latest issue of the MockingOwl Roost: Wide, Wild World. Every story, every poem, every essay wanders the world with curiosity with wildlife encounters, stunning scenery, and invigorating delight...
May 14, 2026
Our homestead, as if risen from its grave, invites the newborn sun; its brightest beams perk up the nest-hugged birds with resounding trills…
May 12, 2026
May 10, 2026
Mothers are a precious gift
Sent to us from up above.
They nurture us, take care of us,
And give us all their love!
May 9, 2026
Threatened habitats resulting from burgeoning human population. What happens when trees are felled, and forest spaces are cleared?
May 6, 2026
Later, I ate leftover tacos in silence,
stared at the sombrero you left
like a joke we forgot to laugh at.
May 1, 2026
Wishing a happy May Day, all the while.
An old-time holiday we’re celebrating,
But it’s how we say, “Hello, Spring!”
April 27, 2026
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…
April 25, 2026
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.
April 24, 2026
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...
April 24, 2026
Trees, trees, trees
everywhere we look
line the streets.
as though in a book.
April 24, 2026
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.
April 22, 2026
Plant, together, a sapling tree, beautifying our Earthly scene. It is important — we all agree, to keep the air we breathe clean.
April 20, 2026
April 18, 2026
The dragon is golden. The sun is the Golden Dragon, encircled by rays, burning spirits, cleaning heavens from shadows.
April 15, 2026
The power lines hum,
low and uncertain,
like a man trying to remember
the words to a song…
April 12, 2026
A sneeze hangs in the air like a threat,
while the oak tree chuckles in yellow confetti.
My car wears a coat of guilty dust,
proof of spring's indecent proposal.
April 11, 2026
This is where
The melody comes in
And the raging mind has
No choice but to simmer…
April 10, 2026
And the roses sang,
their song rose, they sang
as the pale couple walked
along a path framed by color…
April 9, 2026
Well deserving of all its awarded accolades, Ain’t Too Proud is a masterpiece of entertainment. It takes you to the highs and the lows of the music industry in the sixties...