Kelly Joslyn's quiet and simple poem Before the Hunt is a childhood reminiscence of her father. The child's early-morning attentiveness to her father extends to the dim lighting and the smell of the tangerine, like looking at an old Polaroid of something from childhood.
M. Christine Benner Dixon's poem is an intimate portrait of her father, remembered from childhood.
BY KENT JACOBSON A baseball field was a sanctuary for a small community of boys who were surrounded by angry fathers they were too young to understand.
BY MICHELLE NICHOLAYSEN When I left the Seventh-day Adventists, I thought I could keep the love and forget the wrath.
Charlie Mackesy's short graphic novel follows a young boy who connects with a wise horse and a mole, and a more reticent fox.
Vanessa Escobar: "I was always conflicted growing up. But I think in my resistance I missed some things. My grandmother wasn't just being a dutiful wife, she was showing her love."
BY KENT JACOBSON My father clomped through life with boots—“Your mother will turn you into a softy”— and died early.
BY APRIL NANCE I have a photograph of my childhood self taken by my Aunt Sandy. In the picture she has tamed my scraggly hair and combed it into a neat blonde bob.
BY CHARLENE MOSKAL At around age seven I'd lie in tepid water in the rose-pink porcelain bathtub. I would look down the skinny length of me, close my eyes, imagine I was Jesus.
Holly Allen's poem Michigan Green recalls the summers spent in Michigan with her great-grandmother.
