Articles

I didn’t play footballfor the coach.I played soccerthough my fathercoached football.He was a linebackerin high school.He inspired fearin straight dudes.I stood up straightwhen he entered a room,and many times under his gazeI wanted to die.When I was a young manin high school,I wanted to find my soul.My father the coachhad a straight shadow.I was a …

The train curved around the mountains of West Virginia, and my father said to look out the window. He pointed to our right, and I saw the engine. Then he pointed to his left, and I saw the red caboose. “We’re one big circle,” he said. “I don’t know if we’re coming or going. If …

(To use the PDF embedder to see all pages of the poem, use the arrows on the bottom left-hand side.) Text: Can I please be added to this group? I’m looking to relocate Ten Bristlebirds. I’d like a disorienting trip through dark wonder. Because of the orcas / because of the snowmelt / the gnawing …

1 Pears fall to the yard, green bombs hitting green earth with a thud. Under the pear tree I read, journal, dance. I pet my calico cat, Rosie, and wave nets in the air attempting to catch butterflies. Down the hill from the pear tree are black raspberry bushes, empty of leaves and color in …

Winner of the 2024 Robert and Adele Schiff Award in fiction At night I kept my Jesus folded small in the corner of my closet, arms under tucked knees, dark mangled locks beneath the cotton dangle of buttoned shirts I didn’t wear. That’s where I charged him too. Anywhere out in my room would have …

In the days following the tragedy, after the funerals were over and even the local papers had moved on to other stories, Albert stopped leaving the house. For a couple days he put on a performance for his father, who was on bereavement leave from the university, where he was a professor on the history …

Now I’m a person who can spot a nuthatch, point to grosbeaks, have taughtmyself the clowning chip of juncos at the window. Know a raven from a crowand adore both. I owe that love to Arkansas. To think I never gawkedat life with wings before, had taken flocks for granted, and even thoughtthat birds were …

On the night of the break-in, I was upstairs painting my daughter’s bedroom. I hoped Erin would see it as a surprise, a kindness, but with kids, you never know. The week before she’d asked us to paint her room ocean blue, and I’d said that was too dark a color, that she’d regret it, …

Sonnet with Church and Osso Buco The mystery of the Song of Songs: the priests’rationalizations of how the Roseof Sharon is the Church, the bride of Christ,or Israel, or a barbecue jointin Tennessee. Does He feedeth amongthe lilies sound like that to you? Get real.Solomon wants to be the Shulamite,the Rose of Sharon, the Fuchsia …