Call for Submissions: August Reading Period Now Open!

Pandemic Sunsets over Nantasket Beach, by Sarath Reddy Perched like birds on deckswe await brushstrokes of merlot and zinfandelthe inconsolable artist furiously painting, repainting evening skies. Boats reluctantly make their way backto harbor, moon in absentia,unchanging arch of coastline dottedwith unblinking eyes. In the pitch black, ocean serene asleep,sky hovering like a mother laying eyes on … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Suburban Retirement, by Mid Walsh I No one is living here. Only house after house of screenstethering the people inside elsewhere. A lot where menof wrecked eyes and earbudschuck a dumpster fullof ragged limbs of teardown. And a lawn split by sprinklersthat hiss transparent daisiesor spit at the street, where a solitary walkerstops as if … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Casserole Queen, by Marc Frazier Hot from the oven sitting in a pool of grease: full-of-fat ground beef, a layer of instant mashed potatoes, an ample topper of Velveeta cheese: gourmet cooking in the early sixties. Other days:  fish sticks not resembling fish, gelatinous pot pies with gristly beef, scrambled egg sandwiches with ketchup, pizza … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Amador County Festival, by Tim Kahl Dance around the tarantula in the grass during the encoreafter all the giant turkey legs have vanished.Throw back a plastic glass of mead and submit tothe beat the best way anyone could imagine.One of the vendors has already revealed how tosnatch a concrete dragon from a poured mold, how … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Of Novelty Store Statuary, by Gabriel Meek Handle a plastic Superman and wonderhow many held him before, whetherthe paint-chipped kiss-curlhappened on a playground or in the swirlof boxes inhabited since. Do you rescue him? Is this act—to purchase, wash, and shelve to gradually re-gatherdust until you bore, toss aside, spring clean,sell back, change hobbies, or … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

The Question Not Asked, by Jacqueline Jules Have you no sense of decency?—Joseph Welch at the Army-McCarthy hearings, June 9, 1954 A bully’s baseless crusadeended on national televisionwhen a man dared to ask. Have you no sense of decency? With one direct questionin 1954, a nation drunk on fearand sensational claimssuddenly sobered. Censured and chastised,the … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Hospitality, by Niles Reddick I didn’t think much about a group of my daughter’s friends coming over after lunch on Thanksgiving to snack and watch a football game, but I intuitively felt her roommate and sorority sister Anna Marie looked at me a little strange. Had I dribbled turkey gravy on my shirt? Perhaps some … Continue reading Americana Stories—Humor

Upon finding there is a website that compares your weight to that of other things, by Kindra McDonald I spend an afternoon comparing the weight of everything I see: m&m’s, an overflowing bookcase, a child-sized coffin. I am something akin to 2,500 roses with thorns and leaves intact. When I learn a single spider’s thread … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

The Route 66 Gas Station/Mini-Mart/Garage/Biker Bar, by Emily Krauser                                    There used to be a town here. There still is if you look beyond the parcels of dust and dirt traded for concrete and heartbeats. Route 66 was paved with … Continue reading Americana Stories—Flash Fiction

Child from the Cloth Womb, by Gregory Stapp           —on 18th century obstetric models of womb and fetus you were made to be borna bolt of clothstitched into shape by needle and threadby the hand and lap of two virgin mothersin canvas by your muslin skin pulled tautand tucked into corners sewn into posepositioned to emergefrom … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry