Flying Island

Dear Flying Island Readers: Welcome to the 1.23 Edition of the Flying Island Journal! In this edition, we announce our 2022 Pushcart Prize Nominees and share two poems.  The winners of our 2022 Short Fiction Contest will be announced in our February edition! Inspired to send us your fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction? For more info on how to submit, see the tab above. Thank you for reading, Flying Island Editors and Readers PUSHCART PRIZE NOMINEES Congratulations to Angela Williamson Emmert, James Green, Megan Bell, Kevin LeMaster, Shari Wagner, and Julie L. Moore. Read their submissions here . POETRY Jenny Kalahar, "Pull Me Home" Roger Pfingston, "Ten Cows" Are you a writer who is from the Midwest or has close ties to the Midwest? We'd love to read your work. Submissions info in the tab above.  Support the Indiana Writers Center!

Pull Me Home     There is no seed left  in Mother’s maple. No leaf left to fall. No root I haven’t stumbled over sticking from the sod. There is no word to call down lightning, no thunder in the cloud, no rain on the horizon, no train to pull me home. There’s no need to look higher than the silo. There’s no balm for these hands left bleeding till they’re dry. I walked hard, so hard all through the night, determined to pull myself home. There’s no stone, no sunken ship beneath the rocking waves. No buoy I can cling to, no solid place to stand. I’m tired, but I’ll tie myself to a gust of river’d wind and wait for seed or leaf or reaching root  to pull me from here to home.   Jenny Kalahar is a used & rare bookseller, novelist, and poet in Elwood, Indiana. She edits and publishes Last Stanza Poetry Journal. Her poems have appeared in several journals and anthologies. The 2022-2025 Poetry Society of Indiana Premier Poet, she also leads Last Stanza Poetry Assn. in Elwood, now on Covid

Ten Cows      for Nancy who saw it first In a fenced pasture,   after brunching   the morning away      under October sun, ten black cows relax   at noon in a folded posture,  favoring a lean to the left while chewing their cud   in a state of ruminating  indifference—the white noise of Highway 46,  the stacked panorama             of cumulus clouds— all in all the signs of a  healthy herd just outside Ellettsville, Indiana. And that’s good enough.  A retired teacher of English and photography, Roger Pfingston is the recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and two PEN Syndicated Fiction Awards. He has new poems in Innisfree Poetry Journal, Sheila-Na-Gig, Tipton Poetry Journal, American Journal of Poetry, I-70 Review, South 85 Journal, and Midwest Review . His latest chapbook, What’s Given , is available from Kattywompus Press.

Dear Flying Island Readers: Welcome to the 10.22 Edition of the Flying Island Journal! In this edition, we announce our 2022 Best of the Net Nominees, share a poem titled "October," by Laurel Smith, and announce the guidelines for the Flying Island Short Fiction Contest. Links below! This will be our final issue of 2022! The Flying Island is taking a holiday hiatus for November and December, but we are still welcoming submissions for publication in early 2023. Inspired to send us your fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction? For more info on how to submit, see the tab above. Thank you for reading, Flying Island Editors and Readers BEST OF THE NET NOMINEES Congratulations to Carl Boon, Kevin LeMaster, Joel Showalter, and Liz Whiteacre. Read their submissions here . POETRY Laurel Smith, "October" FLYING ISLAND SHORT FICTION CONTEST Submissions open on November 1st! For more information, click here . Are you a writer who is from the Midwest or has close ties to the

Congratulations to the 2022 Flying Island Journal Best of the Net Nominees! "Assume America," a poem by Carl Boon "Carry,"  a poem by Kevin LeMaster "Letter from the Parking Lot," a poem by Joel Showalter  "Portrait of Mourning in the Coop,” a poem by Liz Whiteacre   Congratulations! Interested in submitting to the Flying Island? Submit here .

  October                               We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond. –Gwendolyn Brooks   Weary green makes way for every shade of fire:     limbs of maple, beech, and oak, shrouded all summer, now sway in a bright wind.   The dance of death , they say, but no one is grieving:     not the harvest moon, not sunshine on frostbit grass, not dreamers eager for the dark.   Let’s find atoms that we share, here in the raucous     foliage of you, me : essential as water or air, the bountiful mess of us. Laurel Smith lives in Vincennes, Indiana, and happily participates in projects to promote literacy, the arts, social justice, and public health. Her poems have appeared in various journals, including Natural Bridge , New Millennium Writings, English Journal, Tipton Poetry Journal , and Flying Island ; also in the following anthologies: And Know This Place; Mapping the Muse ; Visiting Frost.  

Flying Island Short Fiction Contest Guest Judge: Barbara Shoup Prizes $100 prize for 1st Place $25 gift card to Half Price Books* for 2nd Place $15 gift card to Half Price Books for 3rd Place Submission Fee: $3 entry via Submittable (helps cover our Submittable costs) Submissions open on November 1st and will close on January 1st.  Contest Guidelines: -Word Count: 1,000 word maximum -Format: Double spaced and 1-inch margins -Please submit a short cover letter with a brief bio -Your submission should be anonymous. Do not include your cover letter with your submission. Please remove your name and any other identifying information from your submission. -Stories must be submitted via Submittable to be eligible. Submissions not chosen will be eligible for publication in a future edition of the Flying Island Journal.  About the Judge: Barbara Shoup is the author eight novels, including Night Watch, Wish You Were Here, Stranded in Harmony, Faithful Women, Vermeer’s Daughter, Everything You

  Dear Flying Island Readers: Welcome to the 9.22 Edition of the Flying Island Journal! We have three pieces to share in poetry and a new Craft Corner piece by our Creative Nonfiction Editor, Michael Gawdzik. We hope you enjoy this issue. Inspired to send us your fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction? For more info on how to submit, see the tab above. Links to each piece in this edition below. Thank you for reading, Flying Island Editors and Readers POETRY Logan Chace, "Moths and hummingbirds" Martin DeAgostino, "In Memoriam" Julie L. Moore, "White Women's Tears"  CRAFT CORNER "Go for the Eyes!" by Michael Gawdzik Are you a writer who is from the Midwest or has close ties to the Midwest? We'd love to read your work. Submissions info in the tab above.  Support the Indiana Writers Center!