Public Republic

Cheryl Snell Photo: pixle I’m trimming my sister’s hair when Mother makes for the scissors. I’m the one, she begins. Her words sputter to a halt as I close the gaping blades. She stands, dwarfed in the kitchen she once ruled, and I see her as she was, bending low over the children’s curls, her […]

Linda Cruise Photo: tonythemisfit The idea that such a beautiful day could morph into the darkest one of my life is inescapable to me, now. So, too, is the irony of my mother’s inherent nature to never jaywalk not being enough to shield her from a most-violent death, in the painted crosswalk of an idyllic, […]

Cristina Trapani-Scott Photo: powi He was tall on Sundays, his white shirt crisp, his hazel eyes shaded by the patio awning. Heat from the grill gave his stillness movement, making him a reflection on water cut

Marilyn Kallet Photo: Choufi/// Today the Garonne flows greener than the poplars, more limber, sky is smoke pierced with light, gulls make dazzling punctuation marks like childhood on Jones Beach.

Jill Koren Photo: rpongsaj Normal again Or rather never

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.

Katherine Van Hook Gulley Photo: young_einstein Today I burned your letters, I lit the fireplace with a box of matches I picked up at an old country store, The letters smelled of musk perfume and all encompassing fragrances of time.