The Oil Man's Burden...by Joseph H. Metzen
Take up the Oil Man's burden - Deploy your boys and girls - To Sunny, sandy Araby / To mold the Muslim world; To rebuild infrastructure / For jobless, listless me / These newly freed citizens; Work seems beyond their ken. / Take up the Oil Man's burden / The sandstorms to endure / Stay out too long in the sun / Your brain will bake for sure; The desert's full of creatures / Whose stingers can cause pain; They don't care for profit / or corporations' gain...

I Was There...by H. Rick Newell
Fifty years ago when our nation was asked to meet the challenge of World War - I was there. I was the all-American boy with the Jack Armstrong look and the great smile. I survived that day of infamy, the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. I survived the Bataan Death March. I returned with MacArthur to free the Philippines. I was at D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, Tarawa, Iwo Jima and the Battle of Midway. Who are these people who fought for freedom's plight? They are the Bill Johnsons, the Nicholas Mottos, the Rene Ballangers and the Albert "Doc" Liebens. I was there. I was the girl next door with the Shirley Temple dimples and the Betty Grable legs...

The Traveler Restaurant...by Adam F. Kohler
On the way home from my 35th elementary school reunion in New Jersey recently, I happened upon a wonderful, inexpensive restaurant. An interesting place, to say the least. Inside, I found a cozy and satisfying oasis for a weary traveler on a long journey. The food choices, many. They even offered three vegetarian meals. In 2002, Yankee Magazine editors selected Traveler Restaurant as one of their top New England picks. The highlight of the visit is that with every order you may choose a used book...

Ramblin' Rose...by Christine Karie
The other day my sister, who lives 2,800 miles away from me, asked via e-mail how my day was going. Big mistake. BIG mistake. I paused at her question, trying to analyze my feelings. And I knew without a doubt what my answer would be. What a day! From beginning to end, lousy...

The Teacher...by Erik K. Henderson
When no one's watching / Alone we cry. / "You can't save them all," / But we sure do try. / They come to us calloused / With problems galore. / Sometimes we ask ourselves, / "Why am I teaching for?...

Lost Couple...by Lucyna Cykarska
At thirty-two, Henry was still a virgin. Did it bother him? Not really. Why should it? Is there anything wrong with it? he always asked when the subject came up. Every year at his birthday parties, colleagues joked about buying him a prostitute to make him a man. Every year Henry gritted his teeth and told them he didn't find that funny...

The Absent Muse...by Elijah St. John
My lonely Muse used to live here / In these cluttered spaces between my ears. / She used to sing to me and embrace my eyes, / Until she turned out the lights and / Stole the music from the spheres...

The Taste of Retribution...by Margaret B. Davidson
On the bridge we stand, Charles and I, each lost in our separate thoughts. The day is a still one and the water beneath us lies quite calm - slightly stagnant even. There is movement here and there, but the ripples seem to lack energy - like half-hearted sighs from somebody who has seen much of life and has been little impressed by it. The mood of the river matches my own. I glance at my companion.

Charles killed my sister. Oh, he didn't take a gun and shoot her. Charles' method was far subtler than that. He killed her by degrees. He killed her by slowly destroying her soul. And then, when her self-confidence was gone, he killed her by what others might call benign neglect...

A Perfect Gift...by Sherian Atkins Wills
Maria dangled her legs over the side of the low cot, and with a groan, pulled herself into a sitting position. Her once agile body, now heavy with child, made it difficult to manuever. She sat a moment on the edge of the cot to regain her equilibrium, glancing around the tiny room that for the past several months had been home. A tear slid from her eye. Yet another move, she thought sadly...

Workingman's Breakfast...by Bruce E. Sherman
The workingman's breakfast tends to be a common thing. It can run the gamut from executive dining rooms with dim lighting, folded cloth napkins and quietly tinkling crystal glasses of iced water to microwaved meals from the local convenience store...

Book Review: These is my Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901, Arizona Territories...by Joanna Mechlinski
When 17-year-old Sarah Prine begins her diary, her family has just set out West, hoping for a chance at a better life. She is an uneducated, yet innately curious and intelligent, young girl who alternately dreams of finding a man to admire her and finding personal adventure...Some of the things she discusses are universal and timeless, such as her simultaneous love and frustration toward her husband Jack, her fear of childbirth, her struggle to disperse the stereotypes and discrimination that cloud her Mexican friends, and her close bond with her best friend and sister-in-law Savannah. Others are unique to Sarah's time and location, such as Apache raids and the ever-present threat of injury or death of her family and friends...Throughout the twenty years of her story, Sarah's voice matures and shows an increasing wisdom about humanity. She possesses a fierce loyalty, kindness, and sense of justice, which is apparent in the daily decisions she makes and the way she raises her children. However, she refuses to stop at gleaning the knowledge of life; no matter how long it takes, Sarah is determined to give herself a literary education as well...

Tips for Short Story Writing...by Diane L. Mechlinski
To most effectively write a short story that will catch and hold your reader's attention from the first sentence to the last, the following are a few easy tips to learn and remember...
The key to a successful short story or essay is passion. If you are passionate about your subject, it will show in your writing, and your readers will feel your fervor and be moved by it...

Incomprehension of Actuality...by Richard J. Brzostek
So what's the way / To find the truth / When everything is astray / And nothing makes sense...

What Makes Good Poetry?...by Dominic Martia
If a poem lasts beyond the time in which it was written, we assume it has qualities that make it "good." I'd like to suggest what these qualities are and then, by examining two poems, show how one poem is poor because it lacks these qualities and the other is good because it has them...

A Walk in the Woods...by Carrillee Collins-Burke
Snow fell softly the winter night / I walked across a log bridge over / the frozen creek and into the woods. / Light from the whiteness around me and / the full moon above me, guided my steps...

Winter's Witch...by Michael Michanczyk III
No wattle and daub hut does she dwell in. / For this witch the Castle Craig she calls home. / Encrusted with snow and ice, the landmark / Looks down upon Meriden sheathed in snow...

At Seventy...by David Tamarkin
I have been in my own orbit/for seventy years now.../Each of us flies round/In a constant tempo./Closely, then inevitably swings/into its own space, in time...

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