By Jeffrey Zable -- Walking along a side street I see this woman up ahead lying against a wall, surrounded by garbage: milk cartons,...

By Jeffrey Zable -- Yesterday I received an e-mail from a friend who I grew up with, is the same age as me, and who went to the same high...

By Jesse Campos -- Waking up has always been a blessing It's a wonderful reality A reality that's almost inescapable By almost...

By Diane Webster -- A field of brown grass sways in the wind; many girl concert-goers near swoon close to the rock-star singer. Final...

By Keiraj M. Gillis [Winner: 1st Place] -- I popped the cork on my ego and splashed it into a tomato-thyme bouillon to accompany some...

By Robert Beveridge -- It's that thread thing, ya know, it's like I can see wells of history rising behind me, or some shit like that....

By William Doreski [Winner: 2nd Place] -- The cold in my head is the climate. Glaciers puddle at my feet. The sea-rise troubles my...

By Corey Mesler -- He took me into the woods. My home seemed far away. He took me into the woods and tied me to a tree. I was small and...

By Diane Webster -- I want to be an old wooden bridge with slats missing, broken in dangling pairs in mid-air dive suspension. I want to...

By Karen Wolf -- on either side of the colon, where numbers dictate. A cardinal feeds when empty, predators far. Red numerals slash more...

By Karen Wolf -- flashes, smoke clouds, head slamming commotion, bark chips---Tecumseh fears bad medicine of British rolling guns...

By Karen Wolf -- A thin ribbon of confidence pushes away a shadow cast by the wood-slatted barn; Sweet heart, your mama…died, didn’t make...

By Karen Wolf -- I watch for the missing thread woven through the tapestry of your, I parred the first hole…, so I can fill that space...

By Karen Wolf -- My upside-down soul floats through a snow bound field past barn boards that lean into river’s jettisoned bargains...

By Bruce Gunther -- I wake up booze dizzy in the backseat of my car that straddles yellow lines of a bar parking lot in Freeland. I...

By John Grey -- A young married couple move into a house. It suddenly becomes a home. But then they break up and the home reverts to...

By B. B. Schaikes [Winner: 1st Place] -- I was devoted to the practice of going to Starbucks at 5 a.m. every Sunday morning and sitting...

By Michael B. Schwartz [Winner: 2nd Place] -- Charles made sure he placed his basket on the table the night before. There was no way he...

By Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi [Winner: 3rd Place] -- Heart pumping faster than her legs, she feared she might kill her mother, feared her...

By Juanita Rey [Winner: 3rd Place] -- When you see me flush my birth control pills down the toilet, then you can be concerned. Or if I...