Poetry
Can’t Get a Break?
17 February 2017 on Blog, PoetryWhen writing a poem, how do you decided where to draw the line? That is, when you crack a sentence in half, what determines where you make the break? After...
Poetry
“Culvert” by Matt Sumpter
09 February 2017 on PoetryI loved the toxic run-off, tentacles of algae, and corrugated zinc that tripped me as I hunched in the culvert, following Will Macon’s echoing hard steps, listening to loaded pick-ups...
Nonfiction
“Countdown to Day One” by Melissa Rosato
03 February 2017 on Blog, NonfictionTwo Weeks After When I drive up, he turns away and leans inside the open window of his Camaro. The hatchback and passenger seat are filled completely with bags and...
Blog
Snowstorm: Holiday Reading Recommendations
22 December 2016 on BlogAs the Barnstorm staff wraps up another calendar year, we want to thank all of you for your continued support and dedication. We'll resume our regular publishing schedule in February,...
Poetry
“Rue Musette” by Sarah Sloat
16 December 2016 on PoetryFrance cast a columnar silhouette. In the travel brochure the people who vandalized Dijon’s church were called revolutionaries. They studied the smoke instead of the fire. Another guide claims it...
Fiction
“Strange Birds” by Lisa Bubert
09 December 2016 on FictionWyeth Normund, cowboy all of forty years, sandy hair that grayed considerably the winter prior, no stranger to the oddities of life, stood before the sycamore tree at the west...
Poetry
“Bathtub Grading” by Jodie Liedke
02 December 2016 on Poetry-2010 tornado touches down in La Crosse, WI In the dark with my headlamp on, I grade essays in my bathtub, while the tornado gorges two blocks over. I call...
Blog
Story, picture, painting: an interview with artist Linda Griggs
25 November 2016 on ArtStorm, BlogInterview by Amy Neswald Kelly and I were introduced to artist Linda Griggs’ work through my good friend and art dealer, Paul Bridgewater. We were taken with Linda’s work at...
Fiction
“What the Earth Offers” by Kami Westhoff
18 November 2016 on FictionFor Dad The children sit at the kitchen table. Their eyes, fat with hope, glide from me to their plates to one another like they’re underwater. The youngest, Mary, licks...
Nonfiction
“House of Smokers” by Brent Fisk
04 November 2016 on NonfictionI grew up in a house of smokers. Nightstands and dining tables were marred with short black burns from smoldering cigarettes. Smoke drove me outdoors, where I absorbed fresh air...
Poetry
“Theodore Roethke Drinks a Pint of Vodka and Talks About Love” by Jackson Holbert
28 October 2016 on PoetryI've always enjoyed a song more when I was alone. The Pacific's mist fighting the coast. How you taste it when you cough. I, who have always asked my bones...
Storystorm
Writing With Conflict: Do All Good Stories Have to be Sad?
21 October 2016 on Blog, Fiction, StorystormI was in a literature class and we discussed whether all good stories have to be sad. Why does it seem like all of the classics are depressing (looking at...
