Preserving the past as best we can

by Derek Alger

Originally published on April 1, 2011

I picked myself up and wandered along the front of the lake down toward our cottage, my right hand raised to my tear-filled eyes, little knowing my father had shifted from filming the action between the Indian tribes, instead, concentrating on my solitary walk of defeat along the shoreline.

Julianna Baggott

interviewed by Derek Alger

Originally published on April 1, 2011

Baggott earned an MFA at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her first published novel, Girl Talk (Washington Square Press, 2002), was a national bestseller, quickly followed by her novel, The Miss America Family (Washington Square Press, 2003), and then The Madam (Washington Square Press, 2004), an historical novel based on the life of her grandmother.

Impressions of Poetry on the Internet

by Ryan Gleason

Originally published on April 1, 2011

It’s the Internet! Poetry is the scripture in the temple!

Summer Barbecue

by Matt Pine

Originally published on April 1, 2011

But then something will happen. A few words that were supposed to mean something small and specific will become a lot of words about something important, amorphous and large.

Two Ladies Under The Influence

by Joanne de Simone

Originally published on April 1, 2011

She takes a couple of healthy gulps. Without such completely feminine hands, her beer chugging might be considered downright unladylike.

The Pianist

by William Haynes

Originally published on April 1, 2011

William Ogden Haynes lives in Opelika, Alabama and has published poetry in literary journals such as California Quarterly. He has a poetry chapbook entitled Five Thousand Days accepted for publication in 2011 by Negative Capability Press of Mobile, AL.

Hands

by Kevin Spaide

Originally published on April 1, 2011

The bones in her hands healed. We went to the hospital and the doctor removed the splints. He examined her hands and did tests, took x-rays. It was miraculous, he said. Her hands were in perfect shape.

After St. Helens

by William Hudson

Originally published on April 1, 2011

After the damned thing blew I went out on my front porch And stared, morose, as grey, spiritless, As these ash-coated surroundings I had Once thought of as my neighborhood. Grey. Corpse-grey. A smothering layer Choking every surface, worming Like some fibrous silicate into Every crevice And cutting off the affection I had Come to [...]

Breaststroke

by Jessica Kinnison

Originally published on April 1, 2011

I spend my time imagining my husband’s breathing: the symphony of energy expended by his body and bones and the universal sound of the heart pumping blood, the heart doing what the heart actually does.

Escape to Recollection

by Ryan David Leack

Originally published on April 1, 2011

Almost two years have passed since then. My manager Kathy and I escape Into the office while the other sales associates Service frantic teenagers and housewives. We split a granola bar as we sit across From each other at the metal desk. “I’m not doing anything tonight,” She says, dropping her nametag to the floor. [...]