Call for Submissions: August Reading Period Now Open!

Rescue Animals, by Jonathan Wittmaier Listen here: jonathan-wittmaier_rescue-animalsDownload Jonathan Wittmaier is a Korean American writer and adoptee. Born in Seoul—he was raised in southern New Jersey. His writing can be found or is forthcoming in WordCity, Literary Journal, Weave—a zine project by PNW Kundiman, and Water~Stone Review. He currently resides in Seattle, Washington.

Sing Your Hymn of the Open Road, by Renee Gilmore      The maroon convertible was all winged fenders and pintucking, a glossy angel dropped from the Corvette heavens of Bowling Green. Glass-pack pipes murmured and growled like Leonard Cohen in his later years. That car, that sound, even that color heralded your arrival at every stoplight, … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Flyover Country, by Michael Brockley An homage to New Harmony, Indiana You argue with yourself over the difference between a honey bee and a yellow jacket. The architecture of their hives and nests. It’s been years since you trespassed in the belfry of the church without a roof in the village where all the cafes … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Two Poems by Marcia L. Hurlow Making Phone Calls for Montgomery Ward          --Mt. Vernon, Ohio, 1972 “We have a lot of specials today,Mrs. ___.  Several bedsheet sets, allsizes one price; they never need to beironed,” and I note the page in catalogueshousewives must keep by the phone, as Isit alone in my cubical that summer. … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

We are thrilled to announce that our Contributing Editor, Lauren Alwan, was recently interviewed by Lynne Kemen from The Blue Mountain Review, a project of The Southern Collective Experience. In the interview, Lauren had the opportunity to discuss topics close to her heart, including the Museum of americana, her role in editing prose, and the … Continue reading Lauren Alwan Talks the museum of americana and New Editorial Directions in The Blue Mountain Review

Suppers at The Sampler Inn, Ocean Grove, by Susanna Rich The cafeteria queue is a long necklace of headswending down its creaky porch,down the slate block, around the corner—hundreds of us de-sanded in outdoor showers,wet hair slicked or rubber banded,straps misaligned over bathing suit marks,and Hawaiian maomaos, madras plaid jackets,canes, tight blue-tinted perms. Grandmother Mumchy, … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Embedded, by Pamela Annas Gaia prowls the supermarket aisles.A hijab frames her face.  She is all of usin jeans and flip flops, a baseball cap, a sari,a dark blue business suit and red shoes.Her heels click on the linoleum. The three year old in the jump seat wants licorice.Gaia remembers dancing the quickstepdown an empty … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

Bread, by Laurie Kuntz How many grandmothers in the regions of memory baked bread,their hands wrinkled white, made soft by the fine sift of flour,their aprons smelling of leavened dough and their bosoms warmwith the rise of all that keeps a family from hunger. And now, it is bread we resist, an empty starch,we don’t … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

I Still Think of Edward Hopper From The Mornings At The Beach, by Sher Ting ____________ Sher Ting is a Singaporean-Chinese writer with work published or forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, Pleiades, Gulf Coast, and Colorado Review. Her debut chapbook, Bodies of Separation, is published with Cathexis Northwest Press, and her second chapbook, The Long-Lasting Grief … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry

rockaway beach, by Meera Rothman the morning we finally go to rockaway beachwe will swim with the ghosts of our fathers you firstdiving headlong into the bluefearless, like dadlike you were birthed here tooyour shoulders plowing through the wavesfreckled and sunkissed, dad’s grinon your teeth, the same green eyes. you will say it’s your lifeguard … Continue reading Americana Stories—Poetry