Storystorm
The Value of Sad Stories
23 September 2020 on Blog, StorystormI grew up in a laughing house. Granted, it was sometimes a yelling house, or a screaming house, or a crying house – but the important thing was, my family...
Fiction
“A Wedding in Aleppo” by M. K. Martin
22 May 2020 on FictionWe are having a wedding in our restaurant. All morning, my younger brother, Hamid, has been scampering like a skinny, tail-less monkey, hanging lights in our cypress trees. We have...
Nonfiction
Thoughts While Waiting by Elizabeth Templeman
15 May 2020 on NonfictionWhat did I think, then, in those years biding my time, waiting? Waiting: for life to get serious, whatever that might mean; for maturity, whatever that would feel like. But...
Poetry
“Ground Rules” by Tim DeJong
08 May 2020 on PoetryThe boy sits in a field.He is four or maybe three.Red-shirted, blue-shorted, he arranges his gathered trifles, loose sticks, wasp’s wing, snail’s shell,sifts fragments too minor to signify.The weedy grass around...
Blog
It’s Okay to Not Write a Book During the Pandemic
01 May 2020 on BlogI’m not sure what I was expecting—maybe with more (read: all) time at home, I would be nothing short of prolific, à la “Room of One’s Own” at last. I...
Poetry
“God as an Illinois hops farm” by Anna Girgenti
24 April 2020 on Poetryin early July, just before harvest, mud on the frilly white hemof my sundress. Barefoot. We squeeze the last drops of beer from the keg — my little brother barely...
Nonfiction
“Suffragette” by Amy Stonestrom
10 April 2020 on NonfictionMy second favorite thing about going to church was coming home to the bubbling carrots, onions and pork or beef that stewed while we were putting in our time on...
Poetry
“Canyon Fire” by Patricia Caspers
03 April 2020 on PoetryAnother August morning the sky opensits smoke-heavy wings, and after so many years of silence, we hello each other in the cafe,as if not knowing the wooded placewhere we parked...
Fiction
“Where the Waves Were Breaking” by Betsy Finesilver Haberl
27 March 2020 on FictionI flipped through the channels. In the half-second pauses between each station, a moth fluttered against the screen door. The porch light flickered and made an electric snap. It had...
Poetry
“Adams Apple.” by John Malone
20 March 2020 on PoetryThis is the tie worn by JFK the day he was killed (I show you a tie). Jackie had it washed and placed in a museum – a symbol of the...
Nonfiction
“Night and Day” By Marni Berger
06 March 2020 on Nonfiction1. The Awakening. I’m waking from a sad dream. In the dream, my husband Leo is uncharacteristically crying at me, saying, “When was the last time we were really happy?”...
Storystorm
What We Look For in Poetry Submissions
05 March 2020 on Blog, StorystormHere at Barnstorm, our poetry readers and editors have varied tastes and interests, but we all share a love for poetry. Read on below to hear what each of our readers...
