Read Part I of “Midway” online here and Part II here.
The shock of finding over a hundred thousand dollars hidden in the bedroom ceiling temporarily got me out of the stupor I’d been in. I got an old army surplus duffel bag out of the cabinet under the bed and Shaun and I shoveled the [...]

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In retrospective narratives about Barack Obama’s path to the White House, the Iowa caucus is universally acknowledged as a pivotal moment for the success of his campaign. His win in Iowa is considered to have made a psychological impact on voters around the country and to have created a sense of confidence that he would [...]

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Like suede, the grass combed over the Irish hills of the Flinn Family Farm in a natural way, which looked inviting and warm. It was late in the day, which was one that had been drizzled upon four five hours prior to the boy’s chores. Both of the Flinn boys looked like their father - [...]

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Her words just hang there, festering in the room. The air…sticky with anticipation of the next note to fall. As he lies in the corner languidly dreaming of pumpkin pie and tornadoes a whisper sets in his brain.
“Don’t sit like that. They’re watching you.”
“Who is?”
“They are.”
“There are only four of us here.”
“Yeah, and all of [...]

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Reformers and concerned citizens periodically draw attention to the miserable state of K-12 education. The numbers continue to be dismal: in most of the 50 largest school districts, dropout rates exceed 40 percent. There are many who refuse to give up on schools, citing studies that consistently show that the problem is poor teaching and [...]

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In the summer you place tea bags in a glass jar with water and bring it to the back porch. You hardly come out here any more even though it gets the best sun. You don’t wipe away the dust as you set the jar on an end table next to a notebook filled with [...]

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Old Tetrahedron Jim, straight out of the Eastern Bloc with a box for a head and a bag for a heart. A swaggering Bogart with egg cartons ‘neath his cassock like a tumored ninja turtle. Cassock being a gentle way to say muumuu, or tarp. The good tarp with the gilding that he wears outandabout [...]

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god is not imaginary, you are not a child.
and television is tiring.
it is a weekday evening, probably you are
watching the christian network. there
are hands reaching to cross the cosmos, but
it feels like a sunday, sorry we’re busy they say,
someone went to war they say, surprise they say,
we’re an irrelevant empire. there are two, no
three, make [...]

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The document catches fire first and is thrust into a pool of shattered leaves undressing mannequins painted orange by an angry God. Sat detected, the little boy detective notices a bleu crumble of rye; wanting bread he observes a little boy hand, with little boy fingers, collide with dust, which falls unnoticed upwards.
Keys chucked hard [...]

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Know you the pleasure of work and wishing
Until a thing is done?
Of discovering hope when what was hoped becomes?
My friend of years, become my lover.
We should continue this painless birthing
Flower of our labors
And still we should build but mostly to uncover.
Forgive that most continual of conversations
When I’m staring into space,
It is the language of leaves
Which [...]

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