I was part of a team sent to represent the Lincoln chapter of PFLAG at a national convention in Arkansas. The convention was at a church, in a town where much of the industry that had kept it alive had dried up, leaving whole blocks deserted and streets in disrepair. The church was also a … Continue reading Dream #267: Hunters Become the Prey
A great darkness had fallen over the city of Lincoln, placing all power in the hands of a very few, making it so we could not get jobs and were persecuted for not conforming. A group of us went to a big trailer in the Near South neighborhood that had been converted into a church, … Continue reading Dream #232: Sopranos and Dead Cats
Original Pub: Plains Song Review Volume VII 2005 A sun pillar in the middle of June. I-80 whispers underneath and a pine wind slips in through your half-open window, racing round inside my Toyota, trying to escape again, scattering the haze of sun-drenched vinyl and old Doritos. And, straight ahead, that improbable, fugitive monument to … Continue reading Sterling
Original Pub: Paradigm Journal: The Jackson Issue Winter 2009 On John Reily's first day at the new school in rural Nebraska, Mrs. Clarkson stood him before the third grade class and introduced him to the silent room. When she asked him to tell the class where he was from, John said, "I'm from Colorahdo." His … Continue reading John’s Germs
Do you want me to hold your hand? I asked her. No. I can do it by myself. The hole was just wide enough for two to lie side by side. When she was comfortable, she looked up at the blue rectangle of sky for the last time. See you tomorrow, she said.
Last night, Nightlight Podcast tweeted the awesome writing prompt: "The wind carried more than a chill to the air." I attempted to tweet a response, which became a hot mess because I suck at Twitter. Anyhow, this was my response: Unseen and unfelt, we passed at night through your windows, your crawlspaces, your mail slots. Carried … Continue reading The wind carried more than a chill to the air. (a Nightlight Podcast writing prompt)
When I was little, I had a children’s storybook about the friendship between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. The one thing that stuck with me was this picture of the two women walking along a street together as, in a tree high above them, a large owl of indeterminate species gazed down at them. That … Continue reading The Awl and the Orm
Shoshana Sumrall 