“Tell Me a Story About Lions,” a story by Abby Horowitz (fiction, ’15) is Runner Up for The Black Warrior Review’s 2016 Fiction Contest.

Congratulations, Abby!

Tell Me A Story About Lions

by Abby Horowitz

That as my body spilled out of itself, the boy was born, that he should have surfaced from the river of blood that poured out of me. A miracle, Lazar assured me. A miracle, that the boy survived.

Lazar slapping the steering wheel in delight as we finally left the hospital. A family of three! he said, Now and forever.

In the back, lying in the footwell beneath the boy’s car seat, was the fourth passenger, seen only to me—her ginger fur lighting up the car’s dark interior, the black tip of her tail pressed against the door handle, already searching for a way we might escape.  . . . continue reading here.

A story by Dave Rustchman (fiction, ’02) appears in Kenyon Review Online:

The Baby

David Rutschman

The baby is by itself on a blanket. Expanse of grass, expanse of gray sky. The man flinches, and the flinch becomes a little shiver, a shiver of disgust almost. He stops walking. Baby on a blanket in a tiny park.

The man had been picking his exhausted, miserable way back to the car from the hospital, but now this: the baby turns its head. On the blanket are a few toys.

The man looks behind him on the sidewalk, across the street, but sees no other pedestrians. Cars thrum by along the avenue toward the hospital entrance and the highway on the other side.

. . . continue reading here.

Find everything you need to know on the Friends of Writers Website through this link: 2017 ALUMNI CONFERENCE

• May 13: Deadline for scholarship requests.
• MAY 20: Final day (post-marked) to register with deposit. All registrations after this date must pay in full at time of registration.
• JUNE 3: Registration closes for full- and short-stay. Remaining balances due.
• JUNE 10: Late balances (plus $100 late fee) for short- and full-stay participants payable only by credit card.
• JUNE 12: Deposits forfeited if balance unpaid by June 1 (postmark) or June 10 (credit card).

Three poems by Jenn Ghivan (poetry, ’15) appear in The Offing:

Sea Level

I’ve lost most names for things from girlhood
early womanhood   can’t name the mother
of the man I used to sleep with   in her house
she made us nopales   prickly pear   scraped
the sticky cactus innards into a pan
made Spanish rice & fried beans   & his father

. . . continue reading here.

A poem by Susan Okie (poetry, ’14) appears in Cider Press Review:

Elizabeth Bishop Injects Herself With Adrenaline For Ashma

Eyes closed, I inhale, I imagine:
a fine needle in the arm opens your chest,
raises you to a high pitch,
sets you humming all night.
Saved from drowning, you float
on the surface, gulping breaths,
heart at a Scarlatti gallop–

. . . continue reading here.