Public Republic

Jude Lally Photo: audreyjm529 It must have rained during the night             ever so slightly                                     Droplets dripping down from rooftops             very lightly

Interview with Evgeni Dinev “Happiness comes with attention to small things” Wilhelm Busch To me, photographer Evgeni Dinev is a happy person – an artist who, through his favorite passion, captures the beauty and the uniqueness of small things, rediscovers them and shows their charm and individuality.

Marion Koleva Photo: jurvetson Let me become your kite― Boldly send me after the carrier winds To bring back wild herbs Under the horizon’s eyelids.

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars.” Walt Whitman My introduction to the art of Evgeny Dinev is an insight into the skill of the author to capture the awe and wisdom of the moment, the beauty and uniqueness of the small things; an insight into […]

Chungyen Chang Photo: peyri lonely shirt in goodwill, two dollars please buy me i’m purple and black size S for super

David Snell Photo: Dan Zen As soon as she let the boy in the car, Claire knew she’d made a mistake. “I…I’m Claire,” she said to the hitchhiker, holding out her hand. He looked much larger sitting beside her. Seconds before, he’d appeared at the edge of her beams. A lone figure, half-crouched with his […]

Katerina Stoykova-Klemer Photo: friggy_30 The eighty-five year old widower was crossing the park with his cane, working to maintain a slow, steady speed. He knew his friends were waiting for him – a thinning group of retired grandfathers, spotted with age like leopards, wearing wrinkled berets and hand-me-down clothes from their children.

Theo Edmonds Photo: sonietta46 I smiled ages ago. When the wind whipped up through my toes When my fingers bent forward to transform a firefly into a momentary hand lantern And tonight – when I looked at him I smiled like that again.

Donna Ison Photo: Victor Bezrukov It was homemade spaghetti sauce that opened my eyes to the dysfunction that was my childhood—Molly Woodford’s mother’s marinara to be exact. Molly Woodford was in my Brownie troupe. Her cocoa-colored uniform was always whistle clean and smelled of fabric softener. Mine was usually wrinkled and stained and smelled like […]

Matt Urmy Photo: seanmcgrath Eyelids peel apart The body turns over Consciousness limps toward focus

Lauren Shows Photo: peasap Sadness, it is said, is a kind motivator, and happiness its languid sibling. Sadness pushes you from your lonely chair at night, to wander halls, to run hands along walls, to make phone calls. To arrange and rearrange stacks of books. To write books of your own. Happiness keeps you in […]

Jill Koren Photo: rpongsaj Normal again Or rather never

Barry George Photo: chidorian the forklift driver zigging and zagging his broken heart around the street

Jim Embry is a photographer who lives and works in Lexington, Kentucky, where he recently held his latest exhibition. He is well-known for his many years of social activism fighting for racial equality, along with his leadership on issues of environmental sustainability. Who is Jim Embry? Star dust, congealed in this current form. I represent […]

Georgi Gosposinov Photo: Toni Blay They had met only a few hours before. He was in his very early thirties, she was in her late twenties. He had to give her a package to deliver to a friend of his across the ocean. She was only a go-between. It was a five-minute job, but two […]

Robert Foshee Photo: *Paddy* It was an exceptionally lovely outhouse. Half the time Lettie spent there was just for the view. Sitting, you looked out a window on either side. The woods were full of birdsong and dappled ground, trees cut by streaks of sunlight so distinct they scratched the air. The tips of the […]

David Harrity Photo: Stefan Mendelsohn Which way does the chain of clouds lead? Today you find the canyon and watch buzzards dip deep into it, their bodies blended by shadows draping the red-sand walls.

Julie Farkas Photo: le_don Fenner sat on a bar stool and watched Wenz stroke the cue stick through his fingers several times, then become very still. With a flick of his wrist, the cue ball raced for the eleven. When it collided at an angle, the eleven coasted towards the side pocket. But the cue […]

Barbara Sabol Photo: Auntie P I found them afterwards, clearing out her dresser drawers. Folded, still in tissue that had yellowed but held its crease, nearly sleek as its forgotten contents. Tissue fluttered open as I lifted them like lost parcels unwrapped, fragile.

Brian Russell Photo: mark lorch (The following is an excerpt of a memoir in progress.) The temperature was in the single digits and a fierce wind blew on the afternoon of December 28, 1977 as my brother Dave and I prepared to fly to Puerto Rico. Mom drove us to the airport reminding us of […]