David WatersForget Your Expertise You are a writer, but you likely have another career or important interest, and it is natural that you would want to write about that, or include an aspect of that in your story or poem.…
Beth KephartWriting about yourself? Why not start with a list? Of the things you loved enough to preserve them. Of the things you gave away. Of the things you outright lost. * Of the things in the pantry of your…
Terri LewisA Rabbit Hole of Words The scene: 1945. The action: Earl makes a move on his girl. I wrote the moon, the jalopy, the romance, but Alice pushed him away and flounced down the sidewalk. Then, to my surprise,…
Poetry by Jai Hamid Bashir, reviewed by Daniel MillsDESIRE/HALVES (Nine Syllables Press) Jai Hamid Bashir’s 2024 debut poetry collection, Desire/Halves, from Nine Syllables Press opens with the following lines from Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge’s poem, “Consciousness Self-Learns”: World is undivided, observer and…
Jessica KlimeshDON’T PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET: THE BENEFITS OF MULTITASKING AS A WRITER When I was a kid, my brothers called me “Jess the Mess.” My young creative brain was always working, and I’d flit from one…
A Poetry Craft Essay by Bunkong Tuon On Writing “What Is Left” and How a Poem Remembers and Speaks My poem “What Is Left” picks up where my other poem “The Carrying” ends. “The Carrying,” which is about my uncles,…
Fiction by Hildur Knútsdóttir, translated by Mary Robinette Kowal, reviewed by Dimitris PassasTHE NIGHT GUEST (Tor Publishing Group) It is rare to encounter a novel of the horror tradition that dares to abstain from the trademark visceral descriptions and gore…
Eileen ToomeyFIND THE CONTRAST I had a happy childhood despite difficult circumstances due to my father’s alcoholism. Luckily, my mother had an ability to focus on what she called the “little things”—moments of clarity, beauty, and humor that shaped our…
Fiction by Kay Chronister, reviewed by I.S. Nugent THE BOG WIFE (Counterpoint Press) The Bog Wife begins with a burial and a missing monster bride. For centuries, the Haddesleys, an ancient and noble family, have lived on a cranberry bog…
Interview by Beth Kephart A CONVERSATION WITH CLEAVER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KAREN RILE Beth: I hear myself through the years asking you questions. About violins and Mozart’s sister. About trapeze art, birds, organs. Rhubarb. The New Yorker. “Hansel & Gretel” (the play…
Interview by Catherine ParnellAN INTERVIEW WITH JOEANN HART, AUTHOR OF ARROYO CIRCLE (Green Writers Press) In her latest novel, Arroyo Circle, JoeAnn Hart explores the climate crisis. What does it mean to address climate change and our complicity in today’s…
Jessica KlimeshLET YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS DO THE WORK There’s no question that writing is hard work. But thinking too much about what you’re writing can make it even more difficult, hindering your progress. This may be especially true if you’ve received a lot of feedback…
Fiction by David Lydon-Staley PRODIGAL SUN “What time dya say he was comin’?” I asked the wife. I had the teapot and some cups out. But should I get the kettle boiling was the question. For it to be ready,…
Flash by by Zoé MahfouzLEGIONELLA BACTERIA Dear Landlord, I have to admit I was rather appalled by your tenancy agreement. I quote: “We confirm that we believe the Premises are safe and free from legionella bacteria,” really? What is it…
Nonfiction by Ellen Wilson HIGHWAY 90 We made the drive for the first time on Thanksgiving morning. My one-night stay was planned, but I had to be admitted through the emergency room, and our thinking was that by leaving in…
Flash by Tracie AdamsWE DON’T TALK We have a pact, an unwritten and unspoken one. We don’t talk. Unless you count that one time every year when I call you and we chat for over an hour while your hair…
Nonfiction by Barrett Warner A FEW UNTIED ANGELS AT DUSK Once so obvious and common—consumption now wears many disguises. It can live in an elbow, pretending to be bursitis. It can lodge in the brain or spine, like a migraine.…
Flash by Eden RoyceYOUR CHILDHOOD WAS WITCHCRAFT Remember? When you licked the blood from your scraped knees and elbows, cleaning your wounds like an animal would, the taste of metal and salt on your tongue. The pulse of pain lessened…
Flash by Connor FisherTESTIMONY I never touched the horse in question, although, at various points in my life I have, largely against my will, been made to saddle, groom, ride, and stroke horses. I did once approach the horse—an allegedly…
Nonfiction by Pamela BalluckTHE HYPHENATE I hyphenated my last name on my front-porch mailbox after a harebrained ex-boyfriend from my teens (he then in his late twenties) found me on the Internet in the twenty-first century, persistently emailed (despite initially…
Fiction by Jeff GabelSPITFIRE My mother-in-law believes in signs. She believes in synchronicity and premonition. This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for her obsession with death. When Neil and I told her we were naming our girl after…
Flash by Jeffrey G. MossYELLOW It is a late October afternoon, darkness coming on quick, and Phyllis DeLuna, one of three widowed sisters who live across the street, is standing on her front stoop waving me over. “We’re putting the…
Poetry by Christopher David Rosales[ABUELITA PLANTING JARS AT BASE IN RATTLING CANE,] Abuelita planting jars at base in rattling cane,whisking lilies, to allude your curve. A pedal in rotation only hints, spoked light, foot flat in utterance, shoestring. To you…
Fiction by Lindsey Godfrey Eccles WHEN MOUNTAINS WERE PEOPLE Long ago when mountains were people there were two sisters, each so tall her forehead touched the sky, and each so beautiful that anyone who saw her stared in wonder. Between…
Poetry by Elly Katz DUPLEX dark is darker than I remember was it a dream or a memory? rescue me from these shadows on the undersurface of spiral threads nude twists and turns mounting dismounting that called off glowing ground…
Poetry by Bradley J. Fest2023.32 Soaring amaranthis getting you down on the floor again? Diane Seuss’s long line’ll [1] set things right while hazarding the new kinds of loneliness. The body that is your body is and always has been…
Nonfiction by Margo SanabriaHARD TIMES, RACE, AND CLASSIC MOVIES By the time I was ten I was a classic movies devotee. It still makes me smile to think of an African-American child with cat-eye glasses, three pigtails, two in back…
Fiction by Krista Puttler ORIGIN STORY Mama, where do stories come from? They come from a dog’s ear. No, they don’t! They come from your fingertips! You mean fingernails. No, I don’t. Pens, pencils, keyboards… Blood, pain, anticipation… What are…
Poetry by John Minczeski LITTLE ODE TO TAKING THE DOG OUT The last trip to the yard for the night, temperature not minus anything just now. The day, having lost its train of thought, clung to twilight like a lamprey.…
Flash by Jessica KlimeshTHE BODY SHOP I find a pair of arms in my size and put them on, then exchange my middle-aged ears for some keener ones since Lyle says I don’t listen, says it’s just one of my…
Flash by Coleman BigelowBECAUSE AT LEAST WE DRINK FRESH ROAST When we first dropped out of design school, coffee was our everything—the intoxicating grounds providing just the jittering jolt our imaginations required. Each sip sending us bareback on burros ascending…
Flash by Kiely Todd RoskaGOD’S LOVE IS TWO WOMEN FROM A QUILTING GUILD IN MISSOULA, MONTANA You fly halfway across the country to clean your mom’s house and plan her funeral. She died by suicide a week and a half…
Poetry by Herman BeaversTRUE NORTH Sidereal & reassuring, lightattired in the color of plums.Aching with sap, the trees’throb of sweetness’s likea ghost vexing me. Grass browningunder its pointed stare,a ground hog, back curved amongthe sycamore leaves, presses closeagainst the gravel,…
Nonfiction by Judith Serin THE HOUSE WITH WALLS OF HONEY in memory of Herbert Yee and 39 years together The house with walls of honey. Bees swarmed into the house and we let them stay. Their buzzing lulled our sleep.…
Fiction by Sinclair Cabocel THE ARMAGEDDON SURF CLUB When the trumpets sounded, Monica was propped up on her elbows, watching Mateo shred from the sandy shore. The other beachgoers swiveled their heads, as if they might find some passing band…
Poetry by Anders HowertonAI, THE END We had done it before with skylines,migrations, lasagna, and this too was alive, a chamber of neurons, layered like we are. Everyone ever known now looms before us. It rose like a scaffold, part…
Clifford Thompson ON THE OTHER HAND… (PART 2) Read ON THE OTHER HAND… (Part 1) Clifford Thompson’s books include What It Is: Race, Family, and One Thinking Black Man’s Blues (2019), which Time magazine called one of the most anticipated…
David UpdikeKeeping the Dream Alive I almost never remember my dreams. This feels like a loss, because when I do, they offer glimpses into how the subconscious folds time and space to shape new narratives, much like an origamist folds…
Vanessa SaundersWRITING AS A SOMATIC PROCESS To expand your approach to writing prose sentences, practice typing out pages from writers you admire. Doing a page every day helps me get an understanding of how different kinds of prose feel under my fingers. I also get the…
Nonfiction by Michelle Ephraim, reviewed by Benjamin SelesnickGREEN WORLD: A TRAGICOMIC MEMOIR OF LOVE AND SHAKESPEARE (University of Massachusetts Press) The genre of second generation Holocaust survivor memoirs has grown vast with contributions ranging from graphic novels like Maus to…
Nonfiction by Nicole Treska, reviewed by Monica WendelWONDERLAND (Simon & Schuster) Some memoirs feel like stories told in a therapist’s office. The white noise machine, a box of tissues, predictable healing arcs. Other memoirs can feel braggy, like the writer…
Cameron MacKenzieHOW TO NOT END A STORY When I get to the end of a story I’m writing – especially if it’s a long and complicated story – I always want to really nail the landing. I want to stick…
Poetry by Lisa Grunberger, reviewed by Angelina SciollaFOR THE FUTURE OF GIRLS (Kelsay Books) Think about the first time you ran your hands over a relief map or globe—likely as a child in elementary school—and consider how your palms encountered…
Maggie HillStop Writing; Watch Basketball My introduction to poetry happened in Madison Square Garden, back when the New York Knicks were, well, The Knicks. It was the mid-1970s and I was a kid who liked basketball. I was a girl, so…
Andrea CaswellTHE ART (AND SCIENCE) OF REVISION Though most writers accept that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to revision, it doesn’t mean we don’t wish for one! It’s natural to want a “magic solution” for a process that can feel…
A Poetry Craft Essay by Eileen ToomeyIt Started with a List: CRAFTING A HELIX POEM In August 2020, early in the pandemic, I was lucky to attend a remote workshop with poet Lidia Yuknavitch who shared with us a narrative…
Sharon WhiteHARVESTING SUBMISSIONS FROM A WORK IN PROGRESS I’ve been writing a book about New Zealand painter Anna Caselberg. In 2019, I was a writer-in-residence in the house she lived in until her death in 2004. I loved being in…
A Writing Tip by Jackson TatgeDO YOU REALLY NEED A WEBSITE? What comes up when you type your own name into Google? Has the internet been able to accurately describe you as well as you would have hoped? Does it…
Poems by Sharon White, reviewed by Sara Verstynen THE BODY IS BURDEN AND DELIGHT, (Cornerstone Press) Sharon White’s The Body Is Burden and Delight was the perfect selection for The 2023 Portage Poetry Series, awarded annually by Cornerstone Press. The…
A Poetry Craft Essay by Abbie Kiefer THE GENEROUS ACT OF PUBLISHING DRAFTS: Letting Poems Exist as Iterations Most of the poems in my debut book, Certain Shelter, appeared first in journals—and in almost every case, the book version of…