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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