The Valley of Obligations Impressions of Amsterdam’s Canals

by Bruce Crown

“Amsterdam greeted me not with the grandeur of its emotional impressionism but with the subtle beauty of its dawn, painting the sky in hues of pink and orange as my plane descended…”

Secrets

By Judith Shapiro

“When Helen was dying, although it turned out she wasn’t dying quite yet, I’d awaken in the middle of the night to the smell of cigarettes and coffee…”

The Groucho Debacle

By Kevin Bain

“Looking back at third grade, I should have had a harder time buying cigars…”

impressions of the half-life of familiarity

By Shawn Sumrall

“There was a night in August or maybe July when I drove out to the Keller farm in Flint Hill and visited with Chris and Anton and Will & Becky…”

 VOPOS

By Timothy Ryan

“Sour green apples were the best…”

The Influencing Machine & The Strange Poetics of Delusion

By Lis Anna-Langston

“My Uncle Troy believed a man named Dr. Jeever shot X-ray beams into his skull from the second floor of the house next door…”

Sharper on Flesh Than Wood

By Brian Wallace Baker

“It happened at church, on a weeknight, on the basketball court…”