Vladimir came to America from Russia in 1998.             “All of my buddies, they gambles.”             And tonight, he is my Lyft...

An anorexic walks into Chili’s. She opens the menu and dies from shock.   An anorexic walks into Chili’s. She doesn’t open the menu,...

I was the queen of water, even if no one knew. Ten years old, teeming with secrets I was called innocent and little and cute. I was...

Settling into a wingback lounge chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, I allow myself to rest in the sweeping view overlooking...

Matter is the problem of the house, which is the problem with me. Matter and the problem of the house can be neither created nor...

after Brian Doyle   Consider the word takhi for a moment. Written, the word might remind you of a Taki, the preservative-loaded,...

For a long time she’d been grappling with the question of why she bothered to write. She knew it wasn’t to connect with potential readers...

It was nearly 7pm. I stood at the drop-off counter at the pharmacy as I waited for help from the man behind the counter. People walked...

I’m being deconstructed and reconstructed over and over again. It’s like my life pauses until I’m torn apart and then reassembled. Maybe...

Start a bath. Walk backwards. Out to the petroleum hall, past the propane and plumbing to polluted-body days. Days of dark and ocean...

In October, I confess my love in the shape of bloodstains and fingerprints. As if I am a dead body who believes in reincarnation, holds a...

Each night, Meredith places her husband’s blue terry cloth robe next to her in the bed. Before she turns off the dusty bedside lamp and...

It was nearly 7pm. I stood at the drop-off counter at the pharmacy as I waited for help from the man behind the counter. People walked...

Bruce and Mavis, Mavis and Bruce. They blow through my hair like the Holy Spirit. Our double helixes have never danced, but they are...

An Envelope G. turned away from the corner; the toppled streetlight was partially covered by snow and the sun reflecting off the dirty...

You perch on a dry dead tree trunk that was rammed into the riverbank during the spring runoff, your feet dangling towards the icy clear...

Publisher: New Meridian Arts  -  2023, $20 This novel by Thaddeus Rutkowski has been out for several months now, and I’m a little late to...

My son finally hit me with a request I didn't want to answer the other day. He asked me if there was ever a fight I refused to watch. If...

eidetic photo of ham sandwich perched atop fire hydrant outside the Woodmere library. somewhere i hear my great grandpa smile & die in...

It is summer. Ice skips into my mouth. Berries hang on the fingers of plants, grains sprout against the toes of the fields. The sun...