June - 2020

Jun 28, 2020
1 min

World-Woking, a Poem by Sarra Culleno

The collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' "After my revolution, you might learn to be free" said the world who's axis turned grounds, skies and sea. Hadrian's Wall forgot his enemy. London Bridge was left bereft of feet to carry. There was no circus in Piccadilly. At first, the oxygen was not free; ventilated only for bourgeoisie. True love was absence, not intimacy. All creatures, have need for hibernating. At last, our own cubs we are rearing. Cage bars, like origami fo

Stone Fruit, a Short Story by Marc Morgenstern

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Jun 26, 2020
2 min

Stone Fruit, a Short Story by Marc Morgenstern

Stranger squeezed my right arm in the Gelson’s Market parking lot this morning. More precisely, my elbow and the pouch of loose skin just above it. Her hand-kneaded me once, twice, like I was a peach. Stone fruit should be arriving one of these weeks, even in the season of the new plague. I’d already noticed her, lined up exactly six feet behind me, waiting for the 7 am seniors-only shopping hour to start. Plum-colored fleece with hood, slate hair escaping, face in shadow exc

Keep Calm and Shelter On, a Short Story by Chuck Waldron

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Jun 24, 2020
3 min

Keep Calm and Shelter On, a Short Story by Chuck Waldron

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' In Florida, we know how to prepare for a hurricane. First, rush to the store, buy every case of water that will fit in a cart. Then pile cartons of toilet paper on top. Second grab all the extra-large chocolate bars. Not forgetting every bottle of scotch whisky on the shelf. With ‘Hurricane Covid19’ on the radar, I was too slow to act. Fortunately, not before the whisky vanished. I remember looking at bare shelves, no paper pro

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Jun 21, 2020
1 min

Zep Tepi, a Poem by Amanda Ellis

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' It’s unprecedented She types furiously on her cell The only friend that doesn’t have to stay six feet distant Quick flashes of movement at the window distract A robin, triumphant and boasting. It must be lunch time. Isn’t it lunchtime? Staple peanut butter sandwich down Leaving an increasingly empty larder Hoards of toilet paper, a flushable fountain of youth Fear and hand sanitizer the only currency Amanda Ellis is an emerging

A New Paradigm: Drive-Free Lunches, a Short Story by Rick Blum

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Jun 17, 2020
3 min

A New Paradigm: Drive-Free Lunches, a Short Story by Rick Blum

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' For more than a dozen years our monthly routine has been the same. Steve would motor up from Norfolk, while Jim cruised down the Pike from Framingham. Nick trucked in from Melrose, meeting up along the way with David from Reading and Paul from North Reading. Others drove in from Dorchester, Westford, Needham, Whitman, and a half-dozen other towns across metro Boston. Regardless of starting point, though, we’d all end up in one

Fashion Week, Milan 2020, a Poem by Donna Pucciani

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Jun 14, 2020
1 min

Fashion Week, Milan 2020, a Poem by Donna Pucciani

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' The invisible seed of dread dwells in the strap of a stiletto sandal clicking down the runway on a strand of tinsel-fringed skirt hugging the thighs of a fur-caped model. Her oversized pout camouflages her worry about the train trip home to the quarantined village that is the epicenter of the plague. After the show, which has just been moved to an online venue by a famed designer to prevent contagion, she rubs disinfectant on h

Viral Logic, a Short Story by Susan Hodara

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Jun 10, 2020
2 min

Viral Logic, a Short Story by Susan Hodara

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' I’m not going to get the virus. And if I do get it, I’m going to recover. I’m not going to die. Are you kidding me? So why, then, when I wake up in the middle of the night with a stuffed nose, do I go into a small panic? I imagine trembling with chills, drowning my sheets with sweat, whatever the terrifying feeling is of not being able to breathe. What will I do? Where will I go? Will there be equipment to help me? Or will I ac

Essential Worker, a Poem by Linda M. Crate

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Jun 7, 2020
1 min

Essential Worker, a Poem by Linda M. Crate

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' I am green with envy for the girl months ago with narry a worry or a care, but now this virus is everywhere; there's even a case here in my county as of today and i am scared to leave my house— I am considered an essential worker, but I don't want to head into my work place; just want to stay home where I feel safe and secure from harm don't want to go into the mouth of a place where people don't take the pandemic seriously, ju

'Power' - Spoken Word, a Poem by by 'Undisclosed'

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Jun 5, 2020
1 min

'Power' - Spoken Word, a Poem by by 'Undisclosed'

Black lives matter White lives matter Every side’s got its history We just need to dig far back enough Every colour has its good and bad.

Mutability in a State of Emergency, a Short Story by Bob Beagrie

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Jun 3, 2020
2 min

Mutability in a State of Emergency, a Short Story by Bob Beagrie

For the collection: 'Life in the time of #COVID' The Pre-Assessment waiting room is quiet today, hardly surprising given the situation, essential procedures only. The radio is playing ‘People Call Me a Space Cowboy’ and the receptionist is unusually short, so much so that only her upper forehead and hairline crest the desk, but its bobbing along to the tune and she seems happy enough despite the State of Emergency. Still, we all need to compartmentalise our fears and concerns

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A literary hub giving a voice to the voiceless by retelling the human experience