All posts in Writing

September 16, 2024

Rachel Gonzalez’s New Story

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Member Writing & Art, Writing

Rachel is our Fiction Writer in Residence, and she has written an outstanding new story for us, “Scrappy Metal.” It takes a very contemporary – and ironic – perspective concerning technology and its ever-encroaching desire (read between the lines: AI) to take over our human lives. It’s not only current but it’s also very funny. One of the most enjoyable stories we’ve published. Please let us know what you think of it in the Comments section at the end. Scrappy Metal Photo credit: IRobot.com I crushed another Cheez-It in my hand and sprinkled it on the floor. “God. Would you stop that?” My roommate’s shrill girlfriend, Molly, screeched at me. Although she was always here she didn’t actually pay any bills, so I didn’t have to listen to her. “Hey, I’m just feeding the little…

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September 13, 2024

Two Poems by Joe Bisicchia

Posted by Malik White in Writing

*Featured Image courtesy of Eric Ward on Unsplash* This week, we have some lovely poems by Joe Bisicchia. They may be short, but they pack an emotional punch. Enjoy! Venus de Milo Hold me. Don’t be a stone heart. Be real. That simple. That plain. Hold me. Even if just with your eyes. Canvas My father’s hands were calloused from his plastering tool, his hold on his trowel, his carrying of mortar board before he would be lost in a cloud, lost in a Renoir brush, as weather patterns are wont to do. He always said see art in all the blank space. My father, an immigrant, had labored so many facades, long halls and tall vestibules with plaster of Paris, smoothing over surface of every wall to get me through school. Illiterate, yet, the…

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August 26, 2024

3 Poems by Sarah Daly

Posted by Malik White in Writing

*Featured image courtesy of Andreas Rasmussen on Unsplash* This week we have some wonderful poems by Sarah Daly. Don’t let their size fool you. They may be short, but these poems are full of emotion. Enjoy! At Day’s End Leaf after leaf drops on the autumn path. They piece a rich quilt of crimsons and golds and corals which cover the dirt; my feet crush them, obliterate them, grind them into the soft earth. But the landscape does nothing to penetrate November’s loneliness. Stars Incandescent circles weave through the night sky, their shadows traversing our tangled limbs and signifying joy, joy, joy. In the Now Don’t say it, whatever you think, don’t say the words, we are trapped in this reality TV lifestyle (go along go along) don’t open your mouth, there is no more…

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August 19, 2024

Winner’s Curse: A New Novel by L.A. Starks

Posted by Jack B. Rochester in Book Reviews, Interviews, Writing

Editor’s Note: A Weekend Arts article in The New York Times caught my attention with its title, “Blending Poetry, Ritual and Data on Oil Drilling.” It’s about an installation created by Imami Jacqueline Brown she calls “research art” and in which says she wants to “demystify oil and gas production.” It was the last thing I ever thought I’d see pursued in art, but then again reading Winner’s Curse was a revelation of its own: a novel set in that same business, which its practitioners used to refer to in the Texas drawl, as “th’ awl an’ gaas bidness.” The notion of a “winner’s curse” is explained on the first page of L.A. Starks’ engaging new novel, the fourth Lynn Dayton thriller. It stems from the fact that drilling for oil was (and may still…

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August 16, 2024

3 Poems by Josh Young

Posted by Malik White in Writing

*Featured image courtesy of Ajeet Mestry on Unsplash* We have an excellent selection of poems for you this week by the poet, Josh Young. He claims to be new to writing, but after reading these poems, he certainly has the makings of a talented writer. Take a look at them below. Violence on TV Violence is acceptable on TV Dead bodies mangled by war Charred corpses of an accident Bloody remains of a murder Nudity is not acceptable Naked bodies are disgusting According to TV censors Except on certain channels Nipples and areolas exposed Cannot be tolerated It goes against our morals Our morals for wholesome TV Full of violence Full of blood Full of gore But free from nudity Phone Addiction the opium high of the screen’s soft glow electronic endorphins are pumped into …

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August 8, 2024

Poignant Miles of Lakeside Boneyard by PS Conway

Posted by Malik White in Member Writing & Art, Writing

*Featured image courtesy of Pau Sayrol on Unsplash* Here is another beautiful piece brought to us by our Poet in Residence, PS Conway. Take a look! Clouds hang low o’er Doolough Valley wispt and haunted like we ghosts who recall the horrors of hunger recall a child who fed like sheep eating grass beside the Dead felled roadside recall the cold that bites so deep through gossamer skin, nowhere to hide from the damp, from the cries carrion crows pull out the eyes of a frail father whose name remains oh so forgotten oh so long ago but the land ne’er forgets its recollections will ne’er relent nor forgive a foreign aristocrat’s neglect for the blight of poverty’s anguishes the poor, the chosen folk of Jesus Christ no loaves nor fish for you and I…

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July 29, 2024

Vera West: Plucked Release and Excerpt

Posted by Malik White in Interviews, Member Writing & Art, Writing

Vera West, our amazing poetry barista, has recently released her novel in verse, Plucked. A lot of hard work and dedication went into bringing it to life, and Vera was kind enough to share a brief excerpt of it with us. There’s also an interview at the end to give you some insight into what inspired Plucked‘s creation. 8 I hated the city bus; the sticky floors, the lurking men staring from faded plastic seats. It creeped me out, but it couldn’t be avoided. With my ride secured, the next complication to iron out was a parental signature on Everleigh’s admission forms. I couldn’t transfer without it. The bus stopped at the Ninth Cat, my granny’s barbershop on the corner of a rundown street in my rundown town, but its faded red paint shone like…

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July 23, 2024

4 Poems by L. Lois

Posted by Malik White in Writing

*Featured image courtesy of Eric Ward on Unsplash.* L. Lois has submitted some wonderful poems to us that touch on a deep emotional level. She fits right in with our humble community, so let’s give her a warm welcome! Intimate Partner Ricochet Biscuits fragile flowers are precious because they survived the runaround of a dangerous game Ricochet Biscuits played in earnest up is down and questioning sanity is the point where you can’t clarify the rules before the next assault arrives and the survivors spend a lifetime placing themselves in a vase with cracks that seep chips that cut flying objects and words that land crooked forever Literary Ironic from the Times: smart, funny, captivating from the Globe: ingenious literary conceit from the Post: dazzlingly clever, gravely profound from the Telegraph: a comic tale, a masterpiece from the Chronicle: fantastically entertaining from the author: like microorganisms mindlessly intent on some distant objective,…

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July 16, 2024

“I Slept in my Clothes Last Night” by Alan Berger

Posted by Malik White in Writing

*Featured image courtesy of Shane on Unsplash* Alan Berger shares another one of his poems with us this week. This poem has quite a sad tone, mixed in with some excellent lines and rhyme schemes. It all goes by so quick One day you’re experiencing Your first licorice stick The next day you’re at your urologist’s Hat in hand covering your dick It was not more than a few ago years When my melodic voice caught pretty ears It all goes by so tough A familiar thought is I have had enough But you plow Somehow I wrestle with myself In the dark With the eternal As I make my way thru the external Sometimes I sit at the end of my bed as my feet shake the floor The guy in the apartment below…

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July 4, 2024

Pablo, by Ronan Hart

Posted by Malik White in Writing

*Featured image courtesy of Ben Hershey on Unsplash* Everyone handles grief differently, and Ronan manages to capture this excellently in this short story. Enjoy, and happy Independence Day for those of you who celebrate! He’s sitting at the top of the steps leading down from the decking to the lawn, facing away from us. His head is bowed, showing the bald spot on his crown, ever-expanding, immutable, and I ask mum if he should be putting sun cream on it if he’s going to be sitting out there for so long. She pauses in her plate drying, gripping it so tight that I’m worried she might shatter it, before sighing and setting it on the workbench with a disregard that would have earned my seven-year-old self a stern reprimand. She closes her eyes for a…

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