Flying Island

        Congratulations to the 2022 Flying Island Journal Pushcart Prize Nominees! "Handprints on the Walls of Ancient Caves," a poem by Angela Williamson Emmert "Passage to Egypt," a poem by James Green "Punchy & Pissed," a poem by Megan Bell "Rain"  a poem by Kevin LeMaster "The House of Juliet," a poem by Shari Wagner "White Women's Tears," a poem by Julie L. Moore   Congratulations! Interested in submitting to the Flying Island? Submit here .

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.