The Fair Jilt

But Love, who had hitherto but played with her heart, and given it naught but pleasing, wanton wounds, such as afforded only soft joys, and not pains, resolved, either out of revenge to those numbers she had abandoned and who had sighed so long in vain, or to try what power he had upon so [...]

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Insomnia

The moon in the bureau mirror looks out a million miles (and perhaps with pride, at herself, but she never, never smiles) far and away beyond sleep, or perhaps she’s a daytime sleeper.   By the Universe deserted, she’d tell it to go to hell, and she’d find a body of water, or a mirror, [...]

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That Razor Edge of Balance

It evaded her now when she thought of her picture.  Phrases came.  Visions came.  Beautiful pictures.  Beautiful phrases.  But what she wished to get hold of was that very jar on the nerves, the thing itself before it has been made anything.  Get that and start afresh; get that and start afresh; she said desperately, [...]

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Call for Submissions – Third Coast Magazine

Third Coast Magazine is accepting previously unpublished fiction entries up to 9,000 words and up to three previously unpublished poems for its 2012 Third Coast Fiction and Poetry Contests through the extended deadline of midnight on January 31.  Simultaneous submissions are permitted provided an entry is withdrawn from the contest if accepted elsewhere during the [...]

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Poe Tradition May Indeed Be Toast

With the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth just two days away, fans of the gothic master of macabre plan one final vigil for the mysterious “Poe Toaster” at the writer’s gravesite in Baltimore.  For more than half a century, an unknown guest left roses and a half-bottle of cognac on Poe’s grave to commemorate [...]

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Apropos of the Wet Snow

Try getting blindly carried away by your feelings, without reasoning, without a primary cause, driving consciousness away at least for a time; start hating, or fall in love, only so as not to sit with folded arms.  The day after tomorrow, at the very latest, you’ll begin to despise yourself for having knowingly hoodwinked yourself.  [...]

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What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, and Where, and Why

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head till morning; but the rain Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh Upon the glass and listen for reply, And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain For unremembered lads that [...]

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Boy at the Window

Seeing the snowman standing all alone In dusk and cold is more than he can bear. The small boy weeps to hear the wind prepare A night of gnashings and enormous moan. His tearful sight can hardly reach to where The pale-faced figure with bitumen eyes Returns him such a god-forsaken stare As outcast Adam [...]

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Time to Submit – Hippocampus Magazine

Hippocampus Magazine, an exclusively online publication dedicated to entertaining, educating, and engaging writers and readers of creative nonfiction, is seeking essay and memoir excerpt submissions of up to 3,500 words.  Each monthly issue features memoir excerpts, personal essays, reviews, interviews, and articles on the craft of writing.  Submissions from both emerging and established writers are [...]

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Books to Read and Tales to Tell…

I love the month of January.  While it’s bittersweet to take down the lights, pack the stockings and holiday garland, and toss what’s left of the panettone and eggnog, there’s something about the clean slate of this month.  With the onset of a new year and my birthday just two days apart, those first few [...]

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