Drift By Eric Matthew Olander The rip roaring world is in a crazy phase, with the big blue moon winking, Drift (lounging in the wheel barrow) cracks a Red Stripe — Rastaman vibration, Yeah! Jah; one love — and lets the cap roll into the mud and feathers, shakes his head at the long and winding […]
Works in Progress
Posted inFiction
A Life Ornamented
By Jessica Amber Barnum A young girl meanders far from homeon a winter adventurethrough thickets of forest.She comes upona tiny pine tree,its tip a sprig in the snow. She almost steps on it,but doesn’t.She leans down and brushes the snowfrom its branches, low and highthen digs down and downwith wet mittensand wild wonderuntil she reaches […]
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Works in Progress – Nov. 20, 2025
Creating a MonsterBy Tom MercerCarbondale-ish Victor Smith and Archibald Thomas had been close friends in earlier years. They grew up in the same small town, both attended the same college, and both men shared an acute interest in programming and the development of Artificial Intelligence, which is commonly called “AI.” Both men wanted to test […]
Posted inFiction
Works in Progress – Nov. 13, 2025
The ride: Mountain biking as an analogy for relationshipsBy Rachel Leigh CohenBasalt Shop around until you find the right bike for you. First, ask yourself: What kind of rider am I? && Where do I hope this adventure might take me? Study the frame & its making: the core materials, the design, the small seductive details. Notice […]
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Works in Progress – Nov. 6, 2025
‘The Territory of Loss’ By Daniel TorresTranslated by Freda Barron “Poetry is the territory of loss, and that assumption condemns the poet to a constant vigil.”– Eduardo Milán Lost for the love of letters; they injected me with the habit of life that my enthusiasm so desperately needs to keep me afloat. What would become […]
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Works in Progress – Oct. 23, 2025
The States Bridger LangfurCrystal Valley Out on the East CoastSits an iodine manNo kingBy himselfHis mind failingGrasping at relevance Sawing at an overdone steak In these divided statesIn these states divided And in some far flung mountain townShaded by valley wallsThere can be heard the old wayDrifting down riversLost on quiet backwoods trailsStanding stillin the […]
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Works in Progress
Trolling CanariesBy Larry DayCarbondale Six mandarin oranges In a blue ceramic bowl. Nestled like canaries In the whiskers of a troll. Mississippi SnakePam Heckert, PlacitaMarch 31, 2022 Flying through the sky Looking down on the mighty muddy Mississippi Snaking through the green fields Nourishing the land
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Works in Progress – Fall poetry
Boxed InBy Deborah Holt WilliamsGlenwood Springs Savvy collector or borderline hoarder?Almost an addiction, right on the border. I ought to recycle, I know that I should.But I can’t toss a box when it’s perfectly good! It might be just perfect for under the tree.(Months from now, yes — but proactive, that’s me.) And I just […]
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Carbondale Treasure Hunt
The treasure vault awaits the clever mind, who reads the clues and seeks to find. Before each First Friday’s celebration starts, this treasure will be hidden in Carbondale’s heart. Through Main Street’s charm and gallery halls, past murals bright on building walls. The treasure waits where artists gather, where community bonds grow ever stronger. So, […]