Category: Creative Nonfiction

“Hourglass, Hourglass,” an essay by Loie Rawding from Vol. 9

12:11 a.m.We lost power, just as my body was turning to stone and sinking into the wet concrete of Sunday sleep. The whole house. The street. From here to Broadway there was no light, no heat, only a failing sense of time. The missing spark of the water heater, the lung collapse of my humidifier,…
From Vol. 9: “Dear Editor Who Sent Me a Rejection Letter on Christmas, or Essay That Ends in a Fugue” by Sean Thomas Dougherty

At first I was like for real, man. Really? But then I immediately thought of my coworker Wayne, whose wife died a few years ago near Christmas, and what dismal days the holidays are for him, each colored light blinking on every house a stop light for this life, a demarcation, a calling back to…
Bards & Brews Reader, a 2016-17 anthology of series performers

BNB logo designed by Emily Weddle Table of Contents FICTION “Shangri La Dee Da” Dan Mancilla “Bigfoot’s Overcoat” Matthew Fogarty NONFICTION “Staff Meeting” “Rescue” “Scorpio, Born in the Year of the Cock” “Go, Jim Dandy” Ginny MacDonald Broadside Excerpt from “Field Notes” Josh MacIvor-Andersen POETRY “How to Skin a Rabbit” “Assembly Instructions for…
“The Human in Me”: A Haunted Passages Nonfiction Essay by Amanda Gaines

The room was stacked floor to ceiling with antique dolls. It was the summer of my senior year of high school. Outside, August summer heat dissipated like mist off the sidewalk. Elm trees kneeled over the back porch of the small mansion. Their leaves were tinged with red and orange, a reminder. September was nearby.…
Flash Essay: “Pervert” by L Scully

I’ve been a pervert for Many Years he says, smiling at us in the backseat. He tells us his wife is with child and that’s why we had to stop for bananas. He wears a blue polyester polo and porn sunglasses to give us a ride. When we get to the sex party it’s a…
“Styrofoam”: A Haunted Passages Flash Essay by Sarah Robbins

“This is you,” she says, with a riiip to the Styrofoam cup. “When you start out, you are pure and without flaw—the way God intended you to be.” She pulls a new cup out of the plastic sleeve lying on the picnic table and holds it in one hand, level to her face. I look down at…
Flash Essay: “Land of Promise. Land of Opportunity. Land of Heroes. Land of Greatness” by Ron Burch

Land of Promise. Land of Opportunity. Land of Heroes. Land of Greatness. Land of Freedom. Land of Landowners. Land of Religion. Land of Justice. Land of White Supremacy. Land of Racism. Land of Lies. Land of Intolerance. Land of Theft. Land of Law and Order. Land of Slavery. Land of Nationalism. Land of KKK. Land…
“On ‘Starlings, Caravans’ by Kay Sage”: An Ekphrastic Essay by Nadia Arioli (nee Wolnisty) for Bad Survivalist

Once, I broke my own heart. Listen. Miscarriage is normal, expected, considered fine. We get our hopes up. We say, Yes, yes, we can do this. Our bodies know what to do. Kay Sage is a painter with rules. I can’t quite figure them out when I’m awake, which makes sense, is right, for a…
“Creamer”: A Personal Essay for Bad Survivalist by Marlene Olin

I’m not a demanding person. All I need is my morning cup of coffee. Plus a teaspoon of sugar and a little creamer. Fuck! I’m out of creamer. My fingers dance on the keyboard, and I can’t believe my luck. The creamer’s coming. Not in five days or six but today. But the driver no habla…