Michael Caleb Tasker
Michael Caleb Tasker Washed-out Horns When Sig started quoting Bob Dylan, like the words to the songs actually fit what was happening, I tried to get away. I liked it better when he was drinking, when he was showing off…
Holly Hilliard
Holly Hilliard Endurance When we were nineteen, Makenna Solomon was my best friend. She did all the things I thought best friends should do: she told me secrets, she lay in bed with me while we watched reality TV…
Richard Zabel
Richard Zabel A Kaddish for Caspar Glass Caspar Glass, trusts and estates, worked alone in his corner office, high above the darkening city. His last client of the day, Harry Oxman, 76, the seventh generation of Oxman in the…
Tim Loperfido
Tim Loperfido NORTHBOUND TRAIN TO PENN STATION, 2001 New Jersey transit into the city is always busy on Christmas, but just enough seats remain empty on the train so that no one has to stand. Kristin and…
Richard Paik
Richard Paik MOST DIFFICULT On the first Friday in December, Alan distributed the poetry unit handout to his Senior Honors English class. Each student must select a poem. In making your selection, you need not limit yourself…
Kirby Wright
Kirby Wright BOULDER BLUES We sat near the continental air access tunnel. My father wore a Lilly Daché button-up, khaki pants, and blue joggers. Daddyo was upset that my mother and Jen were visiting the airport gift shop. He…
William Roebuck
William Roebuck SCALING MOUNT WHITMAN: LEAVES OF GRASS AND AMERICA’S FIRST GREAT ‘AWOKENING’ Cards on the table. I’m not a Whitman scholar. Put me down, I guess, as a plain old reader who likes literature. As I’ve gotten…
Deborah Copperud
Deborah Copperud MVMOMS On my last trip to the Washburn branch of the Hennepin County Library as a volunteer book reviewer, I elbow the automatic door opener. I am oblivious that, before my next visit, I will resign my…
Mark Doyle
Mark Doyle THE CONSOLATIONS OF WATERLOO SUNSETS This is a song about finding yourself alone and being okay with that. This is a song about finding hope in endings. [0:00 descending bassline] One night in Washington, DC, my…
Kale Hensley
Kale Hensley I RECKON WITH MY FEET The first time a girl witnesses her toes in the mouth of another, she would not have anticipated it happening during a game at church. It is complicated. I use that word in…