Poem of the Week–Cream
NLAPW
Cream My mother stands in the kitchen pouring cream over sliced bananas, cream skimmed from the top of a milk bottle delivered that morning, her flowered housedress hangs loose on ... Read more
Flash Fiction–Paradox
flash fiction, NLAPW
Paradox On a day when divorce was distinctly possible, she threw up, went to work, then to her son’s baseball game. For one moment, breeze, sun, voices combined and something ... Read more
Flash Fiction–Too Fat to Fit
flash fiction, NLAPW
Too Fat to Fit We drove 300 miles to the Iowa State Fair–Ian, Leo and me. Planned to stay with Sis, so we did. Next day we walked. Ate things ... Read more
Flash Fiction–The Ring
flash fiction, NLAPW
The Ring Traffic whizzed by; she waited at the café table. Running her fingers through her gray hair, she recalled. “You’re so beautiful,” Angelo had said, frowning. “Why do you ... Read more
Flash Fiction: Ester
flash fiction, NLAPW
Ester My mother died when I was thirteen years old. Never mind that my father died the same day-he shot her twelve times and then turned the gun on himself. ... Read more
Poem of the Week–Black Feather
NLAPW
Black Feather Not four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie, but rather thousands, falling from the sky in Arkansas. Drum fish decomposing in adjacent waterways. All gone. And now ... Read more
Poem of the Week–I am a Bubble
Latest News, NLAPW
I am a Bubble Sometimes easily burst, other times, not. I can linger around and just float into space, without direction Or I can land heavily and drop onto someone ... Read more
Flash Fiction–In or Out
flash fiction, NLAPW
In or Out? From his wheelchair, Bob reached for the doorknob and dropped his hand. Jay, his caregiver, leaned over his shoulder. “Aren’t we going in?” “I can’t face them.” ... Read more
Flash Fiction–That Sounds Better
flash fiction, NLAPW
That Sounds Better Summer in the Hampton’s: nine year old Jack, his Grandpa Tony, Grandma Peggy and I are in the living room of the rental house. Grandpa Tony says, ... Read more
Flash Fiction–Postcards
flash fiction, NLAPW
Postcard #1 The second time the waiter spilled soup in Archibald’s lap, he ended up with bouillabaisse stains on his pinstripes. The waiter—he’d better succeed next time—was positively abject with ... Read more