April 15, 2024

National Poetry Month 2024: 5 Poems by Charles Rammelkamp

National Poetry Month 2024: 5 Poems by Charles Rammelkamp

We continue this week in NPM with another frequent contributor, Charles Rammelkamp. This collection of Charles’ poems will take you on a narrative journey through the eyes of an interesting and very notable character. Cab Driver  Of all the people to almost run over! Anybody else, I’d have shrugged an apology, been on my way back home to Baltimore.  I’d come to the intersection  of H Street and Jackson Place,  maybe took the corner too sharp, veering in toward the curb, but I didn’t hit him, didn’t even come close to running Coolidge over!  But then the secret service guy, a different one from the one who grabbed Cal’s arm, jumped onto my running board, startled the hell out of me. “Who are you?” I demanded. “A secret service agent.”  He called over to a street cop, had me arrested, charged me with cutting corners, failing  to give the right…

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April 10, 2024

Michael Larrain’s “The Life of A Private Eye”

Michael Larrain’s “The Life of A Private Eye”

As we continue to celebrate National Poetry Month, Here is Part 3 of Michal Larrain’s epic poem. Thanks to those who have shared Comments – the author and your editors would love to hear what you think! This new episode, in our opinion, is a real doozy – and so is Katherine Willmore’s exclusive, exemplary artistic rendering. Watch for it! The Life of A Private Eye A Noirvelette in Verse By Michael Larrain Part 3: The Spider Pool She had trained enormous Amazonian butterflies, each the size of a man’s hand, to land upon her person in a pattern either random or preordained, and stay there for a space of hours, forming a living evening gown, their wings slowly fanning, black and green bands of breathing velvet. Speculation was running rampant as to her technique….

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April 9, 2024

National Poetry Month 2024: 3 Poems by Salvatore Difalco

National Poetry Month 2024: 3 Poems by Salvatore Difalco

National Poetry Month continues on strong with long time FC contributor Salvatore Difalco. Difalco has proven himself in the past to be a master of imagery, and he delivers once again with these touching poems. Take a look, you won’t be disappointed! Bleeding From The Ears  I feel like the moon is attacking me tonight  under the crosshatched shade of palm trees,  my amnesia an impenetrable white wall.  If I see stars they do not shine above,  they shine inside my head, among its clouds.  I wear a rumpled sheet, my clothes  and shoes nowhere to be found.  The palm trees sigh like sleepy aunts,  but do not speak of the laguna and the black  surrounding hills. Shapes advance  and withdraw in the charcoal darkness,   accompanied by flashes of eyes.  Nothing comes to me, nothing,…

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April 8, 2024

2024 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize

2024 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize

*Featured image courtesy of Alvaro Serrano on Unsplash Attention all poets! In honor of National Poetry Month, we want to bring your attention to a contest by Cow Creek Chapbook. Check out the information below if you are interested. From Cow Creek Chapbook: Judge – Traci Brimhall Submission Deadline – May 15th, 2024Style and Subject – As long as the poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to see them.Prize – $1,000 and 25 author copies.Submit – For more guidelines and our submission portal, visit our website: https://www.cowcreekchapbook.org/ Best of luck to anyone that submits. Don’t be afraid to let us know if you win, we love to show off our writers!

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April 3, 2024

Michael Larrain’s “The Life of A Private Eye”

Michael Larrain’s “The Life of A Private Eye”

Part 2 of the Epic Poem about a Los Angeles Private Eye If you’ve already read Part 1, you’re probably eager to read Part 2. If you haven’t read Part 1, then you oughta. Then you’ll want to read Part 2, because before you can finish it, next week we’ll publish Part 3. The Life of A Private Eye a Noirvelette by Michael Larrain Original Artwork by Katherine Willmore for James Crumley, in memoriam Part 2 How could I be dizzy if I didn’t exist? was my first question. I was asleep one moment and the next being carried on a sedan chair through tall rustling cornstalks by even taller women’s beach volleyball players whose legs went straight to the penthouse. When their shoulders touched the corn, it turned into salt water and they were…

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April 1, 2024

Fictional Cafe’s National Poetry Month, 2024

Fictional Cafe’s National Poetry Month, 2024

For the 4th year, Fictional Cafe spends the month of April celebrating poets and their poetry. April Fool’s Day notwithstanding, welcome to America’s National Poetry Month! We have a full month of great poetry, written by our own Coffee Club members, to share with you. Two highlights: please welcome our new Poet-in-Residence PS Conway! Just last month PS published his first collection of poetry in a book entitled Echoes Lost in Stars. It was an immediate hit bestseller. Grab your copy from your favorite bookseller. This guy loves to write, and we’re saving a special spot for an excerpt in two weeks. But first up for the month is a frequent contributor, Michael Larrain, who has written a six-part epic poem entitled “The Life of A Private Eye.” It’s engrossing, and we just published Part…

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March 13, 2024

“Switch” A Short Story by Yuan Changming

“Switch” A Short Story by Yuan Changming

*Featured image courtesy of Shelby Deeter on Unsplash Love can be many things: intimate, passionate, and also . . . complicated. Read along for Yuan’s take on an interesting and unique love story. Before they joined each other in Zhuhai, Ming often complained to Hua that her love was like a loach in a rice field, full of splashing vitality, but really hard to catch, let alone hold it firmly in his hand. Given the fact that theirs was an unspeakable extramarital relationship, he knew that she had every reason to hide her affection even from herself, but since they began to honeymoon as temporary elopers on October 12, Ming has become increasingly aware that there seems to be an invisible switch that controls her emotional being.   “What do you mean, what kind of switch?”…

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February 28, 2024

“Between The Notes” by Steve Sangapore

“Between The Notes” by Steve Sangapore

*Featured image courtesy of Mike Castro Demaria on Unsplash* Let’s be honest: life can be hard. As artists we often create art as an outlet to relieve some of life’s stress, but what if this has the opposite effect? Read along for a transparent and insightful take from FC’s former Fine Art Barista Steve Sangapore, as he shares some of his struggles and discusses how taking a step back from creating helped with healing his mental health. The Value of Rests in the Music of Life Can art heal?  Yes. I believe that the creation and the consumption of art both have the power to heal, feed and improve the human soul and intellect. However, through firsthand discovery, I learned that there are indeed situations in life when the creation of art can not only lose…

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February 20, 2024

“Becoming Queen,” A Short Story by Lorraine Parrish

“Becoming Queen,” A Short Story by Lorraine Parrish

*Featured image courtesy of Pexels on Pixabay* Doubt has a funny way of sneaking into our minds when we least expect it, and all we need is a little encouragement to push past that negative voice. Come along as Lorraine guides us through an elegant performance in “Becoming Queen.” Inky darkness disguises me among the shifting walls of velvet.  It calls to me — an energy that ebbs and flows, like blood pumping throughout my veins.   Come closer. This whir of energy beckons, sighing into my ear — Reveal yourself to me.    My skin tingles in anticipation as high-pitched whispers dissipate into an atmosphere rife with tension and excitement. Normally light on my feet, I stumble over a wooden block secured to the floor. Their expressions — raised eyebrows, and curled lips—reveal both contempt and perhaps, surprise? Whatever…

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