Author Archives: Rusty

NASCAR, poem by Perry Higman

NASCAR (Penn­syl­va­nia 500  at POCONO, July, 1998) To:   Gov­er­nor Tom  Ridge of Penn­syl­va­nia, giv­ing  a guest politician's dull monot­o­ne deliv­ery of the com­mand, "Gen­tle­men, — start — your  —  engines," at the start ofthe Penn­syl­va­nia 500  at Pocono – From:   the young … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Lazarus, fiction by Brenda Rose

His boy had been dead eight days when the preach­er picked up the black, worn King James Bible with his name engraved in gold on the leather cov­er, and rein­sert­ed him­self in the pul­pit of the Mt. Cal­vary Holy Ghost … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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GOD DIDN'T GET ME NO WEED, by Mather Schneider

Me and Lit­tle John were sit­ting at the bus sta­tion behind the wheels of our taxi cabs. We were far, far down on the cab cue, so we wouldn't get a fare for a while. It was a depress­ing place to be, … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Hill Tide, fiction by William Trent Pancoast

As Vio­let jos­tled among the church crowd and exchanged greet­ings, she tried to recall the sound of the spring that spurt­ed year round from the base of the hill behind the cab­in. But the voic­es and heat pre­vent­ed her from … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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What He Asked, and How She Answered, fiction by Brian Carr

At the win­dow, with it open, as rain sang across the land once dry, so the rain slipped in threads of cur­rent down cracks and toward the lows, the man wiped his glass­es free of spray—beads that had hit the … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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poetry by G.M. Palmer

Sep­tem­ber The night sweats through the humid­i­ty, our human­i­ty exhaust­ed on the porch col­laps­es from the draw of breath through the thick Autumn air. Steam and mos­qui­toes, blood and bile are min­gling with the mist of burn­ing cross­es, church­es, forests as our spir­its … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Moon in the Holler, poetry by Gina Williams

A full moon is fol­low­ing me home. In the rearview mir­ror, it winks at me, an evil clown, a psy­cho killer. Biggest in a hun­dred years. Old preach­er says it’s a sign, pre­dicts earth­quakes and insan­i­ty, says God and the moon … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Retrieve, poetry by Michelle Askin

How did you ever think you would jus­ti­fy any­thing as good, after aban­don­ing her for sweet prayer in a stone fruit orchard or won­der­ful deed saints you held in the know­ing? How about your holy hand to try art: cup­ping chopped off chick­en heads … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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Four Day Worry Blues, fiction by Murray Dunlap

Round 1: I’m naked to the waist.  The first blow comes in low and fast.   I weave left, but his fist catch­es my right oblique.  I spit blood onto bare feet and upper­cut with my right.  I miss.  His jab … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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light year ghazal by Dennis Mahagin

Oh, I can hear the crick­ets swarm, on warm star­ry nights harp­ing rhap­sodies: it's as if their surf-like sighs might span even light years. When fire­flies … get the act togeth­er… right? Teach­ing rain­bows, jel­ly fish, mete­ors' moons and tides: how … Con­tin­ue read­ing

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