Stillness After the Storm
The power lines hum,
low and uncertain,
like a man trying to remember
the words to a song…
Spring’s Golden Menace
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.
Listening To Handel
This is where
The melody comes in
And the raging mind has
No choice but to simmer…
Her Roses
And the roses sang,
their song rose, they sang
as the pale couple walked
along a path framed by color…
Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations — A Review of the West End Musical
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…
Quarterly & Special Issues
Submissions next open from June 1 to August 31 2024
December 12, 2025
Oh, we’ll leave the tree up for you, Sonny,” she’d write to him. Her nickname for him — So like the sun was her baby boy.
December 11, 2025
Holiday traditions create feelings of nostalgia in all of us, young and old. Twinkling lights on a Christmas tree, the smell of baked goods floating through the air, and freshly-fallen powdery snow — all evoke the warm feeling of tradition, family, and love during the holiday season.
December 10, 2025
Finding the ornament would be quite a feather in my fedora, but where to locate it? That was for me to find out — to turn question marks in mysteries into exclamation points in solutions…
December 10, 2025
Hummus and salsa, chips and pitas, olives to cranberries, yams to sweetness — oh, what delight from such bounteous platters. Chimes of the hour with music to sound, singers, instrumentalists, all gather ’round…
December 9, 2025
I suppose waiting until Christmas Eve was not the best of ideas. But this is when people are the most desperate and least festive, trying to make the season jolly for their loved ones while feeling inadequate to do so. That makes it the best time to find a target.
December 9, 2025
With her camel humps bound in an iron brassiere of modesty, she inspired me, the newest magi, to bring cinnamon to the kitchen crèche…
December 7, 2025
December 7, 2025
“As quickly as they arrived, they were gone.
In this vicious assault just after dawn,
Our lost innocents, so wickedly killed,
Left us the voids that could never be filled.”
December 6, 2025
It seems as if Mother instinctively knew when the decorative Poinsettias would arrive at the local flower market. Off she’d go with me in tow in search of the perfect Poinsettias to adorn our home.
December 5, 2025
When Mary’s babe was born, the visitors were three,
Rich were the gifts they brought and gave on bended knee…
December 4, 2025
A toy train would be nice, to show me you care, but it will get old, and collect dust somewhere. Love never dies, and never grows old. With memories made there are stories to be told.
December 3, 2025
So, whether you’re married to a novelist, have an aspiring writer pal, or just love writing “stuff”, this list of gifts for writers should supply you with the perfect choices this holiday season.
December 2, 2025
a wooden body with steady onyx eyes stares through the warm, festive glow of glimmering lights strung…
December 2, 2025
Fourteen-year-old Violeta Valentine lives with her older brother, Tommy, and their widowed mother in Arizona. Violeta’s mother isolates Violeta and targets her with abuse and neglect. Tommy tries to protect her as much as he can. This tense situation explodes one day when their mother puts both children’s lives in danger.
December 1, 2025
**Contains Triggers: death, mourning** There was no sense of winter, and certainly no sense of Advent. Summer or winter – she didn’t really care. She had nothing to look forward to in either season.
December 1, 2025
A playful look at what happened after the nativity, imagining the three kings’ untold adventures, shepherds, and the baby enjoying gold, frankincense, and even black licorice.
November 30, 2025
Would this documentary be a respectful tribute to Viv, or would it be a hastily cobbled-together piece that served only to sensationalize the lurid aspects of their life?
November 29, 2025
The Brothers Osborne are country rockers from Nashville, Tennessee. But “country rock” barely describes the rich, emotional timbre of their music. Heart-wrenching guitar, played by John with such skill it’s as if his whole life was bursting from the instrument, is the perfect partnership for TJ’s richly textured baritone vocals.
November 28, 2025
Knowing that the piano had just been tuned that very afternoon, Mikel asked, “Are there any other notes that are ‘broken’?” Young Hans scrunched up his face and then plucked the piano keys from the very lowest bass notes to the delicate high notes. In all, he picked six other notes that were ‘broken’. Mikel told Hanson that the piano tuner had been there that afternoon but that he would call him and arrange for him to return and make sure that Hanson was there to “help” the tuner.
November 27, 2025
Count your blessings instead of your crosses. Count your gains instead of your losses. Count your joys instead of your woes. Count your friends instead of your foes.