Poll Tales by Robert Surbrug

Poll Tales

By Robert Surbrug I’ve been a passionate advocate of voting for most of my life. I’ve thrown myself into voter registration drives and taught the history of voting-rights struggles. That’s partly because I’m an historian and partly because I grew up on Schoolhouse Rock. But […]

Remembering How to Pray by Heidi Fettig Parton

Remembering How to Pray

By Heidi Fettig Parton In the middle of September, you are in the backyard on your knees. You are not praying, but perhaps you should be. Bended knees can lift up, bended knees can kill. The world, heavy with sorrow; you persist. Using your gloved […]

What It's Like by Deirdre Mahoney

Emerald Blog: What It’s Like

Every summer, Bay Path University’s MFA program in Creative Nonfiction writing offers a weeklong Writing Seminar based in Dingle, a town nestled on the Atlantic coast on the western shore of County Kerry, Ireland. Each day throughout the week, Seminar Facilitator Suzanne Strempek Shea gives […]

Secrets of the Deep by Fabrice Poussin

Secrets of the Deep

By Fabrice Poussin From the Photographer: There is nothing more awe inspiring than the wonders and power of the earth, which grants us the privilege of its nurturing for but a few decades. This image, like so many taken in the vicinity of Yellowstone Park, […]

Mysterious Girl by Jenee Rodriguez

Mysterious Girl

By Jenee Rodriguez I adore a mystery.Now, at 26,I never felt more like one in my life. My past is in the clear water,and I say thank you each dayfor the things I thought aboutat 16, 18, 20, 21. Mistakes have become memories,some universal heartbreaks,some […]

Three Poems by Austin Metze

Three Poems by Austin Metze

Looking down By Austin Metze Leaning in over the swamp’s edgeI’m drawn to an anomaly—intensely dark pulsing water,like an oil spill in the shape of an archipelago;Long Island viewed from 10,000 feet,early morning commuters beginning to stir. A mass of frog embryos,having just crossed over […]