I am falling into a pink sky morning. Earth is awakening in this northern hemisphere. I will leave my spaceship, step out onto unknown streets. I am wearing my best suit. It masks my fear of meeting with earth ancestors if they are at home. In my hand I hold a red puppet doll. It’s… Read More “Second-Chance Puppet” by Margaret Kiernan
What if fate gets all stories wrong? The fire investigation officer will later say that it started with a scented candle left unattended on the coffee table in the living room. That the people in the house should have known better, I mean, really? Such a classic mistake. Didn’t take long to conclude the report.… Read More “Destiny” by Britta Benson
We meet between here and there, morning and evening, on the dot. Different time zones. Different countries. Umbillical cords stretch. Can be passed on from mother to father, no questions asked, needs must. It is, what it is, you say. Beginnings. Love has decidedly curious ways of making things work, of connecting loose ends. Where… Read More “A Place That’s Not on Any Map” by Britta Benson
Let me be up front about this…the first publication that I approached with my idea of writing a series of articles about the classics shot it down because (they said) the writing was too conversational…not scholarly enough…and simply lacking any serious focus. But that, more than anything, was the point. That was (and is) my… Read More “Talking Classics —2” by John Yamrus
I’ve always been a voracious reader…I love pretty much everything and have been known (like many avid and compulsive readers) to be happily reading several books at the same time. I mean, it just makes sense having a book in every room of the house (and several in the bed room), just so you don’t… Read More “Talking Classics —1” by John Yamrus
A small, harmless creature with neither sound nor substance. It seems content, living on the edges of my life. So, I let it stay. Besides, it is better to live with a ghost than a man, I realised after two break-ups and one failed marriage. To celebrate my six-month peaceful co-existence with a non-living thing,… Read More There is a Ghost in my Wardrobe by Marzia Rahman
“Let me go,” I command my younger brother Subbu, “at eighteen, I know what I want and what I don’t.” My voice rasps and echoes in my ears. Even though my uncordial words make his ten-year-old eyes widen with nervousness and bewilderment, I continue. Perhaps as I intend them more for me than for him.… Read More Whittled Down by the Steam by Chitra Gopalakrishnan
John Halston watched as the man counted out the bills and laid them on his desk. “You’re short. That’s two thousand five hundred. The retainer is three thousand,” he said. “I can get more but, right now, it’s all I got. My boy’s in trouble. Only you can help.” His son was busted for selling… Read More Close To Even by Edward N. McConnell
Chewers 