"A Brighter Light" by Nancy Christopherson

After days in the drear rainand wind—sunlight, the sun comesup in a clear sky. It seemssettled, then, a difficult argumentof weather—the sun displaysits wares. Simple as that.Knives, mallets—flash, flash—and we're cooking again.-----

Nancy Christopherson, author of "The Leaf" (2015), has work in or forthcoming in Hawai'i Pacific Review, Helen, Peregrine, Raven Chronicles, Third Wednesday, Verseweavers, Willawaw Journal, Xanadu, and two new anthologies by Bob Hill Publishing (Moments Before Midnight) and Dos Gatos Press (Weaving the Terrain: 100-Word Southwestern Poems). Currently immersed in four full-length manuscripts-in-progress, she lives and writes in eastern Oregon. Visit www.nancychristophersonpoetry.com.

Photography: “Fast Moving Winter Storm Sky Frames Towering Weeping Willow" by William C. Crawford. He is a writer & photographer based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and was a combat photojournalist in Vietnam. He has published extensively in various formats including fiction, creative nonfiction, memoirs, book reviews, and essays. His new book is Just Like Sunday on the Farm: Crawdaddy Remembers the Nam and After. He also had a parallel career as a social worker and community organizer. There, he wrote biting editorials on behalf of the powerless such as abused children, the frail elderly, and victims of enforced state sterilizations. He is known as Crawdaddy to his Yellow Lab, Scout. You can find more information on his book by clicking here.