Author: themuseumofamericana

But the Thing Is, When You Dive Deep, by Grey Held into the past, results can beiffy, conditional, distorted.the way the underwater lensof light plays positional tricks.Take for example the pennythe six-year-old boy’s momplucks from her paisley purseand tosses into the diving boardside of the Cavalier Club’soutdoor pool, for a favoritegame of seek and retrieval. Seehow … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Daily Routine, by Ruyi Wen Listen to Ruyi read her piece below. image courtesy of getdrawings Wake up, yawn, greet the sun. The first of six tiny meals, each of which fits on a teacup saucer. Accompanied by the teacup, brimming with your favorite form of catechins, jasmine loose leaf. Just enough to dull the … Continue reading Americana Stories—Flash Fiction

The Game of Departure, by Jennifer Battisti Darling, she mutters, nocturnal, the wild suburban in her clinging to his departure like a small static sock pulled from the dryer. My father doesn’t reply. The buzzer goes berserk, a hostile Goodnight! I come upon the lion in the kitchen. It licks a circle of bologna suctioned to the … Continue reading Americana Stories—Flash Fiction

Two Poems, by Joshua Merchant The First Gig we showed up in all Black with streaks of yellowhornet tongued and hive minded. about our coinbut that day’s currency was respect. Oscar Granthad just been shot and our eyes were just the same.spilled. the organizer's belly? if chloroform had a color.I, the geek, now geeked up. … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Masked Litany 5: After Waiting, Unmasked Visitors, by David Wright What could matter on the hike—black raspberries grown wild and devoured? The blueand purple dragonfly on its veined launching leaf? Green sheen of prairie weeds,and a thousand invisible birds complaining? My children reunite for a day, perfumed  in bug spray. A tall man picks a … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Old Man Proffitt, by Scott Solomon In 1979, after another aimless year away at college, I returned to my parents’ suburban home in the latest version of the New South. The Old South and its monuments to Confederate generals resided, as always, in the predominantly Black city limits. Meanwhile, Walgreens had invaded from up North, … Continue reading Americana Stories—Fiction 

Two Flash Fictions, by Carol Dorf And Giraffes, Oh My Most years we would drive down for the day to walk the Atlantic City boardwalk. My father marched along, while my mother and the three of us girls straggled behind. She because of “lady shoes,” and possibly because of wanting space, while we checked out … Continue reading Americana Stories—Fiction

Sing to the Earth, by Margot Wizansky                         after Psalm 95 ~~~ Margot Wizansky’s poems appeared in such journals as Missouri Review, Bellevue Literary Review. She edited What the Poem Knows, Tribute to Barbara Helfgott Hyett, won the Carlow University’s residency, Ireland, Writers@Work fellowship, Salt Lake City. Lily Poetry Review published Wild for Life, her chapbook … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

The Hanged Man, by Gabriela V. Everett Houdini can feel the blood rushing to his head. The stocks chafe his ankles as an assistant fills the tank with a hose; he supposes the water will taste like mineral and metal when he drops, but for now, he is museumed above, eaten by the eyes of … Continue reading Americana stories—Fiction

In Life I Wonder Where Have All the Dead Boys Gone? by Stephen S. Mills          “The female is always already dead: this is how the plot begins”— Maggie Nelson I know they existsomewhere beyondthe American imagination.Here we prefer our boys as murderersand our girls as deadbodies peeking outfrom leaves: limbs bare—necks bruised—blurry spotsthat could … Continue reading Americana Stories—poetry