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Dane Hamann: At the Pole Vault Pits (Poetry)
At the Pole Vault PitsI think of it as a twang, an aerial snappedback and forth like a crazed metronome.But it’s more like the jolt of a one-car crashas if you were barreling down a side streetbraced...
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From Zinsky the Obscure (Fomite Press), pages 103-108. Copyright 2012
\We were silent on the walk to my apartment. It was a full-mooned night in the upper twenties, the type to which every Michigan undergrad becomes inured. Filthy snow piles surrounded us on the...
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Judith Terzi: The Soccer Fanatic's Wife (Poetry)
The Soccer Fanatic's Wife"...soccer isn't the same as Bach or Buddhism.But it is often more deeply felt than religion..."Franklin Foer, How Soccer Explains the WorldAy, ay, ay, how the cry of G-O-A-L...
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Jared Yates Sexton: Of All That Breathes and Crawls Across the Earth (Fiction)
-For NatalieWe rolled into Bloomfield on a Wednesday and parked next to the courthouse. We'd been driving pretty steady for days and needed some sleep. Rusty put on the radio and I asked him to look...
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Sarah Barker: The Church Lady Celebrates (Nonfiction)
My body houses two distinct people -- a lean, lycra-wrapped runner and the church lady, upholstered in pastels with a dinner roll-soft undulating exterior. She’s a beast, the church lady. She doesn’t...
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Mark Staniforth: The Extraordinary Synchronized Swimmers of Western Berenang...
London, August 2012:They flip, float and fishtail in perfect unison: two tiny flickers of electric blue, merged as one in the Olympic pool. There is an audacious exactitude about their work: fractions...
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Sydney Lea: Suicidal Beauty (Nonfiction)
The following essay by Sydney Lea is excerpted from the book GROWING OLD IN POETRY: TWO POETS, TWO LIVES, which is a reflection by two 70-year-old poets laureate on how they came to the art they...
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Through the Feathers of the Wing
I read poetry because I want to be transported into another world; I want to be told a story; I want to escape; I want to be blown away; or I want to float in the continuous suspension of language....
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Thomas Chadwick: Babe In The Woods (Fiction)
Garion passes to Dave who passes to Steve who kicks it straight to Shaz who does a back heel which doesn’t work at all and leaves the ball bobbling off to a bit of the park where there isn’t anyone....
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Why I Write: Michael Nye
On a Wednesday in May of 2011, in a game of full-court basketball during my lunch hour, I ruptured my Achilles tendon. I was at the top of the key and a shot went up strong side. The shot was long,...
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Vicente Viray: Terra Firma (Fiction)
There was a time when it all flowed, when his whole body exploded into each stroke and the sound of his racquet smacking the ball shattered the air like a thunderclap. There was a time when guys...
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Monty Joynes: The Six-Inch Punch (Nonfiction)
In my mid-teens, I trained as a boxer with a view toward competing on the Golden Gloves circuit. Then, at age 16, I got a summer job as the third cook on a Norwegian coal freighter bound for Europe....
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David Billing: Game Seven at the Bringham (Fiction)
Andrew could already feel himself starting to sweat as he pulled into the hospital parking lot. By the time he made his way through the noisy automatic sliding doors, past the annoyingly cheery...
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Why I Write: Andrew Keating
A difficult decision took place just now. Cheese and crackers, or tequila? Consumables are a must when I finally set myself to writing something. In this case, Cracker Barrel’s special edition...
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Robert S. King: "Confessions of the Slower Sprinter" (Poetry)
Confessions of the Slower SprinterAlways my feet are a split second behind my heart,almost winners. My chest is nearlythick enough to reach the tapeand snap it louder than the gun.Imagine me wearing...
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Doug Cornett: The Ghost of Dunk Contest Future (Fiction)
A Peek into the Absurd and Inevitable Future of Our Favorite DisappointmentThe 2022 NBA Dunk Contest begins with an enormous American flag descending from the rafters like a parachute, covering the...
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Gary Leising: "Baseball Clerihews" (Poetry)
1. You Can Throw Out Basestealers, But What Else Ya Got?Johnny Benchis a monkeywrenchthrown into the air,not a five-tool player. 2. Get Help For Your Addiction Before It Causes Real And...
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Alexander Hay: Gi Force (Fiction)
Macca's gi reeked, and for good reason. He hadn't washed it in five years and while some (including his mother, girlfriend and a few work colleagues) thought this to be unspeakable, Macca didn't...
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Ray Scanlon: Diehards (Nonfiction)
My grandson and his dad toss a football around; I smile at their banter and laughter. The barefooted boy chases a pass, dancing across the pea-stone driveway. All I see of dad is white hands and face,...
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Thomas Reynolds: "Post-Season" (Poetry)
Post-SeasonFootballDown forty to zero in the first quarterIs like dealing with the lengthy illnessOf someone he cared for deeply—Time to talk, laugh, and grieve.SwimmingStill in the water waiting for...
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