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Author: River & South

A Letter From Our Editor

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020December, 2020

“The stuff of the world is knit—out of chaos in the first place”—Cleveland Wall, “Tiny Letters” Here it is, the week before Thanksgiving in the…

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Kindred Spirit

Cricket Lesso

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

Little bird,your heart beats fastagainst the glassof the closed windowinside my porch.Hold still.My warm handswrap around you.I turn,take one step, two.In the open doorway,I slowly…

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On Finding Out My Wife Wants to Shave Her (Almost) Invisible Mustache

Jean-Luc Fontaine

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

Only when sweat spatters              the thin blonde tips, can I spot it—               …

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Post Script

John Berry

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

It used to be the afterthoughtat the end of a letterthat final smirk of wit, that wistfultraveler meandering late to the fair. That was when…

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Rain Turns to Snow

Katie Budris

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

Like the last dayI would see you. Smiling— Wheels skidding on iceas I push you from parking lot to in-patient. Your handsuddenly becomes a child’s…

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Tennessee Waltz

Cricket Lesso

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

I dance the Tennessee Waltzwith Charlie,Old Charlie Blue Eyesin his thick tan sneakers.I hold him under the armsas we waltz, stiffly,two paces from his wheelchair.His…

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Tiny Letters

Cleveland Wall

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

I wrote them on adding-machine paper with ballpoint pen. I was always at it.Even before the reply to the last had comeI was crafting the…

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Tipping Point

Larry Pike

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

That frigid Saturday midnightmy mother’s car rolledout of the garageafter me because I failedto park four wheelson the plane of cementthen compounded my errorby leaving…

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Horse Drawn Buggies and Flying Cars

K. Rae Haight

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

We didn’t know what that meant – the future.  Every time you said that word, we thought of rocket ships and flying cars.  Living on…

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A Night Funeral

Rebekah Reisig

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

He wanted a nighttime funeral. We thought he was joking. Connor didn’t have a will. He wasn’t the sort to plan ahead. His days were…

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Can You Please Keep Up?

Carl A. Taylor

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

You were peaked well before Millinocket, and I shouldn’t have missed the signs. But in truth, I didn’t miss them after all, but ignored. I…

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Tabled

Darrell Parry

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020

I sympathizewith the dining room table.The one that’s too big for the space it occupies.You have always taken care of itbecause you use it everyday,but…

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After the Catch

J.B. Stone

by River & SouthPosted onDecember, 2020December, 2020

—there was no release                                    no parade     …

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A Letter From Our Editor

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020December, 2020
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On, Lusty Gentlemen

Dorothy Cantwell

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

In early May, beneath the stars,the air is humming as the young, male tree frogstrill their love songs into the darkness—long, shuddering sighs of desire,one beginning…

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Aiko

Amar Benchikha

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

        The first time I saw her, she was wearing a long, golden, tight-fitting gown, the type of gown a woman would wear at an upscale…

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Grimalkin

Marilyn Humbert

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

the rumble of her feline songslips between my thumbsthis love like the windcatches me unawarelike moonbeams on midnight’s lakesoundlessas moth wings about the lantern’s bright beam and I’m…

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The Last One Picked

Robert Manaster

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

Out there beside the crabapple’s shade,the tyranny of balls, bats, and yellshaunted me somewhat less than if I was closer.I heard a truck grumble down…

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The Wood Grouse

Seth Jani

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

I can’t diveinto the gold of flowerswithout hearingthe petalshit the earth. It’s autumn, and I’m learning to processthe radial treesin their decay,the final eggof the northern…

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Field Marginalia

Chila Woychik

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

My farmer and I had a bet this year. He said the corn would surpass the proverbial knee-high by the fourth of July and reach…

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Milky Way at Echo Point

Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

I lean at the lookout and stargazeas Echo Point shrinks like a black holein the cross hatch of bottle greens. huddled in my anorak I waittousled wilderness…

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Corrugated

Sujash Purna

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

There were those brick cages long and high enoughto suck the daydreams out of our minds.The only hope was a glimpse of a cleavageacross another…

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Ungewunscht

Paul Bluestein

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

The dusty synagogue window looked out onto the narrow Austrian street belowUnterbergstrasse, where— what the world called Kristallnacht  and Jews called the beginning of the end—began  The photograph on…

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YEARS LATER (Revision)

Leah Browning

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

        He found himself in a paralytic state. This was the state of Ohio. On a billboard outside—well, if you’ve been there, you know. Along the…

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Shady Grove

Paul Bluestein

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

There are no groves in Shady Grove In fact, there is no shade Just concrete and Costco and condos and Wendy’s and RVs and WalgreensThere is no view of…

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A Neighbor’s Cat

Jacob Butlett

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

A patch of gingko-scented snow rests like a cat at the foot of the steps,yawning tawny crystalsinto the muddy grassladen with twiggy leaves. A child lays two…

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Clearwater

Sabyasachi Nag

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

Pelicans, like pundits, draw you in to the curve of their pouchquietly chewing carp— under your feet sand shifts, as though earth were adjusting in sleep.The clear…

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Fallen

TAK Erzinger

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

Trees foundsuddenly naked stripped whistled by windswaying, they bare it all like skinned bonesutterly devoid of shame From the mouthof the sky  snow tumbles downseason’s…

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Ripples

Marilyn Humbert

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

we tangle around youlike cobwebs when dad passed you brush yourself offsend us back to our own lives time passesetching unfamiliar patternsyour capricious hearta walking stickhelter-skelter…

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Bell

Shoshana Levenberg

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

        “This heah is my pusher; goes by Shorty,” she drawled to the two black-suited Jesuit priests and two women religious. Bell’s natural southern accent became…

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Of Forgiving My Father Without Meaning To

Shirley A. Jones-Luke

by River & SouthPosted onJune, 2020June, 2020

My reflection is my father’s reflection      stunning in their similarities     pause, breathe    Sometimes I can’t look at my face  …

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A Letter From Our Editor

by River & SouthPosted onJanuary, 2020January, 2020

          I am so honored and excited that I got to be part of the River and South Review team this year. When I first approached…

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The Last Beat of Summer

By Bonnie Lini Markowski

by River & SouthPosted onJanuary, 2020January, 2020

A symphony of freshness.There you are,betweenPippins, Cortlands, Boscs-The usual, dull, fall fare,assembled like a majestic choir,unapologetically singing: “We’re still here.” Cheeky,Yellowy red,Fuzzy,Vine ripened—The last tune of summer I…

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Leaving

By William Cass

by River & SouthPosted onJanuary, 2020January, 2020

Ann sat on the edge of the couch, staring at the packed suitcase on the floor next to her. The late afternoon light in the…

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Vanilla Planifolia

By Alicia Grega

by River & SouthPosted onJanuary, 2020January, 2020

What do women who don’t take their coats offdo in the summer when it’s warm?Does Freon flow through their veins?Do they sweat through ice-lined pores? I…

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The Dove

By Holly Day

by River & SouthPosted onJanuary, 2020January, 2020

The bird hides inside, tucked inside my ribcage,the feathers hide my heart. You can smell its desperation on me;even through the cigarette smoke and birthday…

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Self-Portrait as Aqua Blue

After “Self Portrait” By Vincent Van Gogh
By Lea Galanter

by River & SouthPosted onJanuary, 2020January, 2020

A swirling, whirling dervish the sky cannot contain me going every which way  Wild-eyed as Van Gogh, no salve for the wounds blue on blue burnt red on beige Calm…

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Homo Liberator

By Tucker Lieberman

by River & SouthPosted onJanuary, 2020January, 2020

In the wildlife rescue video shared ten million times:the fawn paces at the bottom of a dry well,the ducklings peep in a sewer,the fox hangs…

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Jack London Can’t Help You

By Sarah Gyle

by River & SouthPosted onJanuary, 2020January, 2020

     The best way to stave off death is to make it something you want because then you’ll never get it. That is what I’ve learned.     My…

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Vomit

By D.S. Maolalai

by River & SouthPosted onJanuary, 2020January, 2020

Life like a crisp packetdropped into a fire,shrinking and crumbling; dyingand not burning; curlingon hot coals. I sip tea in the morning on the kitchen floorand…

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