“Epiphany” In the Absence of Red Alarms My blood sisters remember what I’ve almost forgotten, the menses that measure our time. I’ve lapsed my membership in that club, I travel free from the 30-day clock. My time is counted differently now. Days are years, years are millennia, millennia are without measure at all. There is no monthly debt; all accounts have been balanced. I spend myself as I wish now, with no child or threat of one. I’ve reached a bargain with the planets, their moons, the sky and all of its diamonds. I won’t wish on anything anymore. I have what I need. Days pass quietly here in the corner of the universe where I savor the slight air of a spring night, where my steps have taken 60 years to make sense. I…
“Points to Make,” Poetry by John Grey
POINTS TO MAKE Today began like a heart on fire. In between there was this hot-cold-hot-cold movement to establish the fact of me. It ended like a man with something to bury. I woke to the sight of a burning house, instructing firemen where to point their hoses. Family units are brittle. I’ve known this all along. I fell asleep that night like someone on a long, long highway. There must be something here about love – no, yearning – that’s it. In future excavation, you who yearn to uncover the ancient will find nothing but ancient yearning. Today, everything moved. It tried to leave me behind but I kept seeing me by my side. By night, I’d made it. I vowed to teach the light – teach it something new. I’m who I am…
Interview with InkWell Publishing by Lorraine Martindale
InkWell Publishing Interview Q&A With Beverly Floyd and FC Barista Lorraine Martindale Beverly Floyd’s advice to writers: You are more than the words you put on paper. Discover who you are and what you want your writing to do for yourself, your readers, and the world. The founder of InkWell, Beverly Floyd, speaks about her inspiration in starting a new press, how writers can prepare for publishing, and challenges she’s faced beginning her new venture. A true advocate for writers, she believes in writers’ visions for themselves, and works closely with each writer to help them share their unique stories with the world. InkWell is presently accepting submissions for next year, and is looking for summer interns. Fictional Café: Inkwell is a rather new indie publisher. What is your former publishing or writing experience, and what…
“Caalo Xan” by Jude and Keith
Welcome Fictional Cafe Listeners, this week we will be covering Caalo Xan, by Jude and Keith! Caalo Xan provides the listener with a fun-filled Audio Adventure, complete with Original Music, one of the largest diverse cast in Audio Drama, and cinematic style SFX. Twice a month for the last five years we have tried to provide that warm towel of Sci-Fi that comforts and arouses the creative mind. (And like Douglas Adams would always say – “A towel, [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have…” After Caalo and Chuck’s mission in Drusk City goes awry, they are pursued by a pack of Norhounds. Caalo and Chuck are surrounded by a pack of Norhounds and must find a way to gain the upper hand. We hope you’ve…
FC Celebrates National Poetry Month!
National Poetry Month 2022 The Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month in 1996 to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry. Celebrated every April, it has become one of the largest literary celebrations in the world. To celebrate the twenty-sixth anniversary of National Poetry Month, we are honored to introduce the amazing poets featured here. Please read their works and support their ongoing projects. Some ways you can participate: write a poem, listen to a poetry podcast, or buy some poetry books (from our list of poets or others you discover). Helpful Links:Poets.orgPoetry FoundationPodcast ReviewPoetry Podcasts ** “Games“Yong Takahashi(From Yong’s memoir, Observations Through Yellow Glasses: A Memoir Through Poems) Every card I put on the table, you take away in plain sight. At the flop, you say I don’t need any distractions. Too many…
“Night Skies” — Poetry by Gopi Kottoor
Night Skies And love turned me Into a fish, swimming in your eyes, And I was content, As though your small pools Were more than ocean. And so I swam. How you turned me, just a body, To all of colours, How you blossomed out your heart As a sea flower For its clown fish. And you had me there, Brightening myself for you Over and over, Forgetting the splendour of red sunsets Turning to loss, Eternally in the tossing high seas, Forgetting, That love is but imagination, Put to test for truth In dying night skies. ** Eyes Take away from me The nibbles you made on my flesh. All the whispers you made as we sat by the river bank Making paper boats. And when I came closer, you said, careful Even the leaves Have eyes. We let the sundown Turn to goldfish And sink down to sea. Back in the car It is me All about you All over you And your words Breathing poetry Into my face And…
“The Journalist” and “The Singers”
Happy April, Fictional Cafe Listeners! To celebrate this month, we have, for your listening pleasure, “The Journalist” and “The Singers” written & edited by Zev Hurwich. Strange things are happening aboard a cruise ship in Antarctica. One reporter interviews passengers to learn the truth about these bizarre phenomena. Journalist, Art Rosenblatt goes on an Antarctic cruise with his family. When one of his children goes missing, he begins an investigation that will raise more questions than it answers. Cast Written & Edited by Zev Hurwich Art Rosenblatt- Zev Hurwich Cool guy- Zev Hurwich Lt. Col. Dahlia Yost meets a hot lifeguard. But what is his connection to the ethereal music that seems to follow him every night? Cast Written & Edited by Zev Hurwich Dahlia Yost- Lauren Sowa Art Rosenblatt- Zev Hurwich Special thanks to…
“Trade an Honored Word,” by Michael Tyler
Sam lays beside, a strap released and delicate to the touch, bare back to the sun with a touch of whiskey to give the afternoon a kick. Charlie ties her hair back and applies lotion to Clay’s nose as he regales us all with tales of Amsterdam misadventure. A girl at each window, feigned desire amid fatuous aside from each passing native. Clay took a girl to a room, she cried as he undressed, he paid and let her be. She took his hand as she closed the door and returned to the window, he waved as he passed and that was Amsterdam. Clay has a fight in two days and Charlie notes he’s looking gaunt. He says it’s worth it for the adrenaline alone and it will not keep him from the whiskey. Charlie’s…
Eva Shaw — Whimsy Meets Reality in Art
Artist’s Statement: In my art, I attempt to share how the world conveys its impressions on me, whether in whimsy or reality. I love to study the complexities of nature, the swirls and hearts and mysterious shapes and then transfer them into how the brush meets the canvas. Sometimes that’s silly; other times it takes a few “edits,” as I can tweaking the objects and designs. There are even times when I return to a painting a month or more later knowing that a detail or a entire image needs to be changed. I enjoy painting as I do when writing books. It consumes me. *** Eva Shaw began painting a decade ago, after a year-long battle with breast cancer. She credits her late husband Joe’s comment that got her started. He said, “The shed…
“I Hear Yes,” Poetry by Vera West
i hear “yes” I jokingly have asked my husband: “Do you feel like I’m a gallon of milk you got home only to find out it’s expired?” He knows I’m referring to how I used to be pretty but now feel curdled. He laughs—not a real laugh but a confused nervous one I’ve forced out of him by knowing he loves me and asking him a ridiculous question like that anyway. You might focus on the fact that he did in fact laugh—coerced or not—but what you should really be focusing on is how only a sad insecure person hiding behind pain in humor would make that joke in the first place. It says so much and for the record, he always answers no but I always hear yes. ** affect and effect No one…