A tulip poplar In my backyard was struck by lightning the sudden terrible crack covered its beloved trunk with a spider web of blue...

Once Upon a Time there was a woman. and she lived. Prince Charming never thundered on his mighty steed from a castle over the hill to...

I. Single The futon’s fabric was bare; the stuffing was shot through with collapse from our sitting lap-stacked in the center. One...

If we still had house churches today, I’m sure they would be adorned with family size bags of Cheetos, air pods, satellite dish...

After dinner, the adults chat. I don’t know what they discuss. Their children make demands of me— Bring seven shells down from the...

I’ve loved the mourning dove since I was a child— The soft, suffusing sound that always calmed Me then as it does now and must calm,...

Thick rainbow chard and yellow corn; We run past the market tents To where the light hangs over the river In eternal September....

The raindrops dribble down the shopfront panes while back behind the counter the barista drips her own creation in handled earthenware...

every night we become master burpers, sooth sayers, rockers; our prayers go straight up every night we lose our breath, our pace ...

(A Clogyrnach) Ripples whisper through fields of grass At nightfall when no footsteps pass Over this bare hill Where I linger still—...

Four-year-old David who has Downs snuggles into three-year-old Tommy’s chest like a Maine coon cat. He pets Tommy’s head flubs his...

Half-uncial script letters almost as tall as my thumb the same thumb that drew a Cross with Holy Water on an infant’s forehead this...

There’s a time of day, just before night becomes, in which I feel powerful. I could take on the entire world, during this brief ...

Every year, hundreds of presses nominate poems, short stories, and novel excerpts for the Pushcart Prize. Pushcart Press has been judging...

This short story has been reprinted from the Ancient Paths archives. It originally appeared in Issue 8 (Spring 2002). In the printed...

The following short story is a reprint from Issue 11 (Fall 2003) of Ancient Paths. Run for the Money by James Steimle On a sunleaning...

This story is reprinted from Issue 12 (2004) of Ancient Paths literary magazine. The Celebration by Rachel Norris Tracy looked at the...

The following short story is re-printed from the Ancient Paths archives. It was published in Issue 10 (Spring 2003). Salamanaca by...

This short story is re-printed from the Ancient Paths archives. It previously appeared in Issue 7 (Fall 2001). The Lord's Tennis Ball by...

This story is re-printed from the Ancient Paths archives. It was previously published in Issue 6 (Spring 2001). The Permission Slip by...