Metaphor and Paradox in Neil D. Lopido’s “At the Stern of a Ship”
Analysis of “At the Stern of a Ship,” focusing on how maritime imagery, metaphor, and paradox convey themes of memory and separation.
Edgar Allan Poe: Writer in Residence
Places Poe lived from 1809 to 1849 and the Poe Museum in Richmond Virginia, leads to a look at the writer’s house as a pilgrimage shrine.
Ecclesiastes was Right
Great Artists Steal: How Artists Really Get Their Ideas by Debra N. Mancoff pulls back the curtain of what art was, is, and can become.
Disaster, Evil, and Moral Truth in Henry James: Genotiva’s Analysis
Examining David Genotiva’s analysis of Henry James’s literary works, focusing on how Genotiva interprets James’s treatment of moral disaster.
AI and The Future of Creativity
Will AI make all writers, artists, poets, and story tellers obsolete? Do creative people need to stop using AI?
Review of Pitfall by Terry Kirk
A review of Pitfall from Terry Kirk. Reviewer Mitch Toews, hosted Ms. Kirk’s launch during Plume Winnipeg’s annual literary festival.
Interview With Jude Neale
I had the great pleasure of being able to interview the very prolific poet, Jude Neale, who is on the cusp of publishing And Now There Is Me.
Breaking the College Mold
Do we want institutions to focus on individual status, or to prioritize society progressing and students’ well-being? The answer matters.
Letter to Marjorie
This is a short article in the form of a letter to Pulitzer Prize winner Marjorie Kinnan Rawlins.
I’m Finally Writing about Karl Ove Knausgaard
How Karl Ove Knausgaard’s latest work stacks up against his greatest hits.
The True Story
A critical view of the popular “nonfiction” essay type, magazines and places where it appears, and the book version known as the long walk.
Flash Fiction
What is flash fiction? A brief history and guide to current trends.
Mississippi Prisoners Tell Their Stories
A review of Unit 29: Writing from Parchman Prison.
Searching for the Dark Other Side: A Review of Lindsay Hill’s Tidal Lock
A book review of Lindsay Hill’s new novel “Tidal Lock” from McPherson & Company, published November 2024.
The Lucky Chops
The Lucky Chops is a unique brass band. They play funky jazz/rock tunes and often play the New York subway platforms.
Review: Endearing Species
The fiction starts with the citation of reasons for the migration of the Nepali speaking people from the Plain areas to the hilly ones.
What the War Gave Back
An elderly man carries grief across a lifetime, until time bends and the past returns what it once took.
Through a Filter Dimly
Ben, a lonely man looking for love. When everyone who can afford the cost is beautiful, what is left for the rest of us?
Unstuck
Middle-aged musician decides to move in with his crusty elderly father.
Going Postal
A struggling author, must decide whether the revenge he contemplates for harsh criticism of a short story may have gone too far.
Calculated Chaos
The protagonist is primed for the chaos of cultural deconstruction that defines his place in this materialistic cesspool of human suffering.
A Walk in the Park
An old man is walking along the river in Waterfront Park, trying to soothe his mind in a world that he believes has gone mad.
Moses’ Brother
Aaron’s brother pulls him into a violent drug deal. Aaron’s past come to light, forcing him to confront what he does and does not remember.
The Blue Binder
A tattered blue binder reveals a mind that sees pathways no one else can.
The Wrong Road
Exploring the moral conflict between a father and his son during the final years of the communist regime in Romania.
Jiaan’s Flowers
A public safety officer’s day at work after a tragedy.
A Girl Named Janie
Martha kills Bluesy and is left with the girl he’d abducted. She has to decide to keep pretending or find the life that was taken from her.
Used Steinways
A Story of Friendship, Growth, and the Love of Pianos.
The Last Voice Message from Abuela
A quiet, haunting story about a woman who keeps receiving voicemails from her deceased grandmother – messages that evolve with time.
The Gardener
Following a family’s long-time gardener, Westin Yeled who discovers something that haunts him, and rocks his tiny world.
The Bel Air inside the Bog
A retired English teacher learns of a rumour about two missing high school students and sets out to solve the fifty year old puzzle.
The Last Caller
Hard-living Jack Stone is celebrating another year of cheating death, but his New Year’s Eve is interrupted by a most unexpected visitor.
October
Describes October weather, Halloween. and its accompaniments. There is, however, an underlying current of unrest running through the poem.
Hush
Hush, stop moving-
feel the warmth
Long Goodbye
Alone, I walk fields and woods we loved
Seeing you with every step
Truth Never Fails
Perseverance, honesty, and righteousness have the power to overcome injustice.
a faraway dream
here is a place that will take you as you are, where the previous rules are all tossed aside, where the pretty eyes smile and you are…
Victory Parade
The hypocrisy and futility of war.
Grace
Finding a pet that you did not know you needed.
Temp
A musing on the temporary nature of things.
dharma breakfast
A meditative morning.
Trojan Horse
In an era of racial injustice in the Deep South, black women often raised and nurtured white children who came to cherish them.
Happy Mother’s Day
This past Mother’s Day, I thought of my mother, even though she is no longer physically with me, but I wished her a Happy Mother’s Day.
Then and Now
Light-hearted reflections about the impairments of advanced age.
Method of Loci
A poem addressing the vagaries and impact of Alzheimer’s on my father.
‘ŌKOLEHAO
A peek into Hawaii’s past, with Kamehameha as its king.
The Weeping Willow Tree
Willow trees do look like they are weeping and sad. They are also vibrant and eye catching.
A Poem Because Of Helen
This poem is dedicated to the last cut cord of wood. To the hobgoblins behind insomnia’s pressboard paneling.