Fallow Ground is also a paperback. Pick up the paperback from Prolific Press; the stories and poems published online are free to read here.
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Remembering my Uncle Johnny’s Face By Helen Falandes
My Uncle Johnny’s face was badly burned when he was a child; the aunties never stopped talking about it, with hushed voices and tsk- tsking at every family gathering: it…
Fallow Ground
Breaking Up in a Small Town By Helen Falandes
With whom do you talk when you are breaking up in a small town? If you end up back together so much will need to be ignored at the next…
Fallow Ground
Farm Boys Thomas Cannon
farm boys fight to be counter-productive. they wreck stuff a wealth of chores split before and after school but even on busy farms Childhood has free time break the branches…
Fallow Ground
Corporeality by Cameron Morse
Day before the stay-at-home order goes into effect, I lace my ears, muzzle my mouth in gauze. Each exhalation steams my spectacles blind. A postal worker shouts at me for…
Fallow Ground
When Flowers Die by Len Carber
When flowers die, They die slowly— Edge by edge The petals curl, Still, silently, Without complaint. Unlike us, Cut flowers Should be let go Before the first Tinge of death,…
Fallow Ground
Dance Forbidden Russell Schneider
Under the muted moonlight, I, Dance with the dead, Loved ones, Left at the crossroads. Sing with sinners Long since forgotten, Cavort with convicts Once held as lovers and friends,…
Fallow Ground
Bogeyman Dreams by Edward Ahern
As a child and young adult my dreams were sometimes tortured by beings who thirsted for my powerless body or soul and I entered awakening with quaking relief. These dreams…
Fallow Ground
Boys by Abigail Kipp
Loneliness is a worm gnawing at my gut, so I cling to boys who don’t care (flowers promised but never given). It wiggles its way through me so I can’t…
Fallow Ground
The Legend of Sabine by Arvilla Fee
They say on nights so very still, Sabine will come – oh, yes, she will. Holding babe to bony chest, she never rests; she never rests. Strain your ears, and…
Fallow Ground
A Walk Through Town With Gran by Robin Ray
Behold! Spoiled girls who moan from sunrise to conniption in their daffodil socks and pickled dresses, enjoying the heck out of Mackintosh-flavored ice cream. In the tight suburban creases, gray…
Fallow Ground
Wichita Harvest By Keith Gaboury
“New Prospects for Growing Human Replacement Organs in Animals.” I kiss the stars like I kiss you under our porch light. Are you ready, ready to untangle this Big Sky…
Fallow Ground
New Life By Tiffany Renee Harmon
After it happened I planted myself Burrowed deep into the ground A cold, silent slumber But nestled in the dirt blanket Green buds of new life started to form Sprouts…
Fallow Ground
Tears By John F McMullen
When we are young, we cry easily — when we fall — when we cut ourselves and — when we don’t get what we want As we get older, The…
Fallow Ground
Beneath the Juniper By Shannon Thompson
Search for me In the woods Where the magpie sings His song of sorrows. Find me underneath The Juniper Tree. Wait for the moon At its fullest And awaken me…
Fallow Ground
Crossing the Line by Fabrice Poussin
There is a line beyond those woods invisible yes undeniable yet its quest is everlasting and must continue for there, queries may be filled with truths. True there is a…
Fallow Ground
Limited time offer by Josef Krebs
ubsequent malaise that death brings If you’re inconsequential in your effects That rapid pace of your heartbeat Over the years That damped you down while challenging To the demands of…
Fallow Ground
Sublime Sex By John F. McMullen
I slowly calm, catching my breath spent and euphoric totally satiated. So deeply in love I must hold onto to her Never let her get away I have found “the…
Fallow Ground
Reality Forsaken by Bruce Levine
Reality forsaken For a chance at the golden ring And though it’s only made of brass A chance to grab it still could bring Dreams of glory yet remain Waiting…
Fallow Ground
A Mind of Winter by Cordelia M. Hanemann
Cold crusts barren branches; the mind of winter comes. What I have known recedes, as trees surrender leaves. Little remains. Names I’ve sworn never to forget, precious words, coveted over…
Fallow Ground
The Pull of Weeds by Cordelia M. Hanemann
One day in July, I bent to pull weeds in the garden, to lift a large stone; I bent at the waist and lifted, to move a large stone, to…
Fallow Ground
I Was Right All Along by John Grey
My problem with school is that I can’t go back there and point out to that teacher just how wrong she was: about Columbus, about how I would turn out…
Fallow Ground
Bad Morning by Don Thompson
A hangdog coyote crosses the road and lopes off into the scrub. You can feel his wretchedness. Behind him, a dried rabbit carcass, too far gone to feed on, and…
Fallow Ground
Across the Street by Wendy Lee Klenetsky
ng ball with (what I assume to be) her brother. He doesn’t seem too thrilled with having to be her playmate; he’s throwing the ball far above her head, making…
Fallow Ground
Town Bell by Megha Sood
When the pain resonates in the deep clanks of the big pendulum standing alone in the heart of that small town it vibrates and syncs up with all the wailing…
Fallow Ground
Dance of the Death by Megha Sood
The clutching bones makes the rattling sound and that grim reaper makes his eerie presence felt around Life is squeezed out of this moment gasping and choking with no air…
Fallow Ground
Hard Night by Francis Flavin
The rabbits took a lickin last night. The Magpies are doing their best to clean up the mess, But the Ravens are off chastising the livestock At old farmer Bob’s…
Fallow Ground
Fallow Shadows by Susan Gentry
Fallow shadows follow a fiasco of woe Years of tears adhere to mirror a soul Silent screams seed the ground below Yesterday’s tomorrows with no place to go False pride…
Fallow Ground
South for the Winter By Rebecca Kane
Warmth across her wings, waves of salty sea beneath, stretches of sandy beaches. She flew, drifting upon a drain of current, swirling down, merry-go-round. Sweet freedom. Then, the piercing whistle…
Fallow Ground
On My Mother’s Side by Tyler Ayers
Driving was way nicer than flying, Elizabeth and I could both agree on that. We hadn’t been able to agree on much lately, though. With her dad dying recently to…
Fallow Ground
Go Green by C.L. Killgore
I had two choices, if you could call them that, both felt more like predictable ends to a total crap day. I wasn’t up for either. Predictability offended my sensibilities…
Fallow Ground
Two at the Zoo by Terry Sanville
Jack and Lauren stared into the compound that held the spider monkeys. “Do you know who that one reminds me of?” Jack pointed to the queen chattering non-stop. Lauren scowled…
Fallow Ground
The Notary by Chip Jett
Not long after I went into the tire business, I bought an inflatable werewolf and put it on top of my store. I didn’t get it to scare off intruders…
Fallow Ground
Forty-Four Dollars by Gene Goldfarb
It was Spring 1959, and I lay there on the living room couch with my measles to keep me company. Meanwhile, “Come Softly to Me” by the Fleetwoods, hypnotized me…
Fallow Ground
The Painter’s Darlings by William Hunt
“You’re sure?” Dr. Kober asked, his pencil hovering above the pad like a honey bee over a flower. “Of course, I’m sure!” Cecil answered. “Do you have cotton in your…
Fallow Ground
Fan Base by Trisha McKee
The thunderous applause reverberated in her head long after Ashley had left the stage. She stood and walked around the makeshift dressing room; the white sheets hung to hide the…
Fallow Ground
Quarter-Life Crisis by Jesse Thompson
I watched as Jimmy pulled up in his beat-up blue sedan at noon. The street was quiet, and the slam of his driver-side door echoed up to my apartment. Jimmy…
Fallow Ground
The Warning by Jesse Thompson
Dad liked to drink. It took about half a case of beer to do the trick. But on that night, the trick turned fatal. I knew drinking would do him…
Fallow Ground
Infatuation by Jason Sibert
Chuck Gowers showed up for another day at work at the Corvus Coffee Roasters. He walked in an hour after opening, wondering if she would be there. “Hello, Chuck,” said…
Fallow Ground
The Tree Stump by Bruce Levine
It was a torrential rain. Harder than Alex and Corey ever remembered. And it didn’t stop all day and into the night. There was no wind, no lightning, no thunder,…
Fallow Ground
But Wait! There’s More! by Rebecca Linam
“But it was Jeff’s idea!” my best friend Thomas always pointed out. I say it was Garrison Keillor’s fault the whole mess got started, or maybe Mrs. Pringle’s. Mrs. Pringle…
Fallow Ground
FOR YOU BY MARGARET KARMAZIN
For some time now, Dr. Hugh Mandara had accepted his life as it was and managed to find contentment in what he considered mature, even philosophical ways. There was the…
Fallow Ground
PAPAVER CALIFORNICUM BY ANNETTE GAGLIARDI
We headed downtown in the black Chevy borrowed from someone’s dad who had it hidden in his garage for the past thirty years. It’s a wonder we could get the…
Fallow Ground
BLOODLINE BY ALAN MEYROWITZ
Helen watched from her kitchen window as the young man approached. He carried a plate loosely covered by a napkin. She dried her hands with a small towel that she…
Fallow Ground
Elegy by William Torphy
A convoy of alien drones hovers over the small country town. They’ve either come out of casual curiosity or arrived with menace, but here they are in hayseed. He has…
Fallow Ground
Innocent by David Rogers
If I say I was innocent of the crime for which I was convicted and sentenced, you might perhaps be more readily persuaded, if not to excuse my subsequent actions,…
Fallow Ground
A Reflection on Nature: The Arve in Summer by Michael Smith
Better to understand a river By understanding how I understand a river I must step back from the bank of thought And let it flow It’s not a cross or…
Fallow Ground
Lie on Your Stomach on The Grass by Jonathan Bracker
The solid earth has never yet complained. There is only the slight scrape Of the accommodating grass Adjusting around your body its bent blades. Impossible ever to get close enough!…
Fallow Ground
Paper Carrier by James B. Nicola
I was a paper carrier and used to hear her speak when I rang to collect from her every other week. I’d see her on those afternoons dressed up exquisitely.…
Fallow Ground
He was a Good by James B. Nicola
He was a good good little boy From break of dawn till time for bed: His father’s pride, his mother’s joy, Immaculately bred. He never lost his temper, was As…
Fallow Ground
My Mother’s Pink Bloomers by Milton Ehrlich
In the days before washing machines, Mother kept our clothes scrubbed wash-board clean, hung up on a line in size places—bloomers led the way. When I was a kid, I…
Fallow Ground
Ode to Ruairi by JR Vork
If I could swim The pool Of tears That our sun Let out to dry Or hear a wind Thru her…sail Deep into The night I would measure Each wild…
Fallow Ground
Sonnet from A Nightmare by Dennis Gilliam
What is this dark dream that is cast in gloom? What ominous, baneful face floats in air, Carrying grim, a foreboding of doom? See the dire eyes how they glow…
Fallow Ground
Lines from A Madman’s Diary by Dennis Gilliam
Suddenly, he appeared from my ceiling, The turbaned Arab smoking a hookah, Sitting on his own cloud of smoke Like a djinn. Al-Qaeda decapitated him he said. The gnome at…
Fallow Ground
Déjà vu by Dennis Gilliam
This is how it always feels. I have been here before. The door is still closed Time elapses in seconds. The door is not closed. The wood is not splintered.…
Fallow Ground
Midwest Sunset by John Dorroh
I wait for you, my darling sky. I wait for you to pull out your palette, inviting the world to stop breathing just for a moment, to look up and…