Quirky Cool Poem (There Be Lions)

I love anything that’s written in an absurd or quirky style, and “Sunt Leones” (translated from Latin: there be lions) certainly meets that criteria.  Following is the now classic poem written by the talented Stevie Smith (1902-1971). Sunt Leones The lions who ate the Christians on the sands of the arena By indulging native appetites played what [...]

Poets are like Butterflies

The editor of Poesy Magazine proclaims on his News page that he’s “back again,” and, after 18 months of downtime, he’s “continuing Poesy and returning refreshed, rested and with a vengance to make an impact.”  Except that was posted 5 months ago and there doesn’t seem to be any activity since.  Ah, well.  I know [...]

Temptation Drive-Thru (Flash Fiction)

For those of you unfamiliar with flash fiction, it is the short version of the short story.  It is also the specialty of Every Day Fiction, a site that delivers daily short fiction to your mailbox (you can also read stories online).  Here is an excerpt from a fantastic story recently published by EDF called Temptation [...]

Satan and his Wife Own a Small Business in Orange County

I have endured some horrendous working conditions in my lifetime, and, while I wouldn’t wish that on others, it’s oddly comforting to know I’m not the only one.  Dionne Galace, a terrific writer and entertaining blogger, has written an account of her job from hell that is both horrifying and hilarious.  Her first (unheeded) clue [...]

Quotes About Writing

 Here are some great quotes about writing: Everywhere I go I’m asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them. There’s many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.–Flannery O’Connor So often is the virgin sheet of paper more real than what [...]

Something About L.A. (Flash Fiction)

Gay Degani has a new story out called Something About L.A. that was recently published over at Litsnack.  Here is an excerpt: The truck shivers to a stop, dust swirling. The door opens as a small figure slides off the driver’s seat. A boy, just a boy, dark skin and hair, wearing a faded plaid shirt [...]

My Sneaking Tears (Poem)

I saw this poem and found it so beautiful that I immediately searched for the author (Mark R. Slaughter) online in order to ask his permission to post it here. Fortunately, I found him, and even more fortunately, he was kind enough to allow me to reprint this poem and share it with all of [...]

Global Warming: Fact or Fiction?

  I was originally going to re-write this in a more informal, blog style, but I decided to post it in its current essay form.  I wrote this for a college composition course.  Students working on similar projects will hopefully get a lot ouf of it, and I think the subject is one that will appeal to the [...]

Cabbages, Kings, and Pigs with Wings

I don’t know what Lewis Carroll was smoking, but it must have been some pretty good stuff to come up with poetry like this…  The Walrus and the Carpenter The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright– And this [...]