After All

About the Author Michael McGuire was born and raised and has lived in or near much of his life; he divides his time; his horse is nondescript, his dog is dead. Naturally, McGuire regrets not having passed his life in academia, for the alternative has proven somewhat varied, even unpredictable. “McGuire’s writing is hauntingly thoughtful,…

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The Witch Doctor’s Wife

“Yes, dear.” I fake a smile. Gunpowder is not magic. As he walks away, I snip a small piece off the ginger root on my counter and place it between my lips. Sucking on it to calm myself, I mutter, “Odin, give me strength…”

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Utopia

      Xe was an ordinary person, who lived an ordinary life. Xe had a job that didn’t pay quite enough, a smartphone that wasn’t quite new, and paid xer bills on time. Mostly. On the weekends, xe would sometimes go to church, and sometimes, stay home and watch tv with the kids, exhausted from work.

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Erin

The old house is haunted by you. Dusty sheets cover the furniture and the art like ghosts. Long hallways lit by sconces display portraits of you and your father and other family members I don’t recognize. He was the youngest of a large family. You were his only child. Your face, smiling in the photos taken when you were a child and somber in the ones taken when you were older, watches me, follows me, as I walk through the house for the first time.

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Let There Be Light

Let There Be Light   All the sun did was rise, until God and man called it day. The earth and sky were just apart, until men said from the ground up, distance. All the moon did was beam, until men called it moonlight.   1.Farkon Labari (A Story’s Beginning) This is a story. And… Read More

Licencia de Manejo

Licencia de Manejo   Licencia de Manejo Mamá used to drive a truck the color of tapatio hot sauce. A sauce that to this day my parents use liberally on anything they can put it on. “El caro de chile Americano,'' my dad used to call the truck, American-made and yet inhabited and used by… Read More

Schism in a Soul So Tender

Schism in a Soul So Tender Schism in a Soul So Tender I live in a many-peopled cabin. They will not let me work or clean, nor help tend the animals. They will not let me run. On the days I rise from bed, I go downstairs and try to at least help with the… Read More

Rainbow’s Arc

Rainbows Arc   Rainbow’s Arc By Marco Etheridge      Beyond the cracked sidewalk, and the telephone pole with layers of flyers in a rainbow of colors, and the patch of dry brown grass there stood a ten-foot high concrete block wall, caked with dozens of coats of paint. A small shrine huddled at the… Read More