Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Poetry Grapes and Questions What is a dream without desire? It wouldn’t be a dream at all. Desire stirs within us the questions that we have always asked ourselves Questions that beget more questions until the dream is a question itself that keeps the wheel turning, making us … Read more
Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Poetry No Signature The quiet man lived above the drone path,five flights up, where no one looked.Each morning, with tea and unlined pagesHe waited longer than most peoplewaited for thought now.He never asked the page to be brilliantThe quiet man asked it to be his, not automaticThat was … Read more
The day Ana went to space, you watched the rocket take off on an oversaturated television screen, the blues of the sky heavy and inky, and you thought about the time the two of you had seen the aurora borealis. Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Short Fiction Solar Wind The day Ana went … Read more
Over the following weeks, their bond deepened in ways that defied the physics of retail spaces. Late one Tuesday evening, after the crowds had thinned, Eli brought her to the third-floor railing and stopped. Below them, the mall transformed. Security cameras swiveled in synchronized ballet. Escalators throughout WHSPR hummed in harmony, creating a low frequency … Read more
At first, the aloneness is oppressive. The distance between here and Santiago, though a mere fraction of the total distance I have walked, stretches in front of me like an overworked muscle. It is the last third of this Camino. My friends and I had made it through the Basque Country and its abusively beautiful … Read more
“You manipulate staff to discharge him every twenty days, just before his Medicare coverage runs out. Then you re-register him to start a new cycle. But that’s only slightly fraudulent. You invent illnesses, so Medicare will extend his stay.” “Those are real illnesses.” “That he doesn’t have.” Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Books … Read more
I tried very hard not to be a writer. I told myself it was foolish and impractical. A path littered with disappointment and rejection. Yet I could never really convince myself to stay off it. So, one day, I took a deep breath and started writing. Since then. I haven’t stopped. Would you please tell … Read more
At the end of the day, if your book doesn’t land where you’d hoped, if your words never get read, if you have to put a manuscript in a drawer, the thing that has to keep you moving forward is the joy of telling a tale. Would you please tell us a little about your … Read more
Hemingway has inspired me the most – his ability to capture hardship, and the human valor in soldiering onwards despite it is the highest expression of human optimism. Would you please tell us a little about your writing process? I like to write first drafts in broad strokes and reflect on them over time. Sometimes … Read more
Winner of The Letter Review Prize for Poetry But, His Clothing is Still There When time has ripenedand the day’s dying lightis in your favor,find the key to his armoire.Stand just so for the gloaming glowof the waning dayin mother’s full-length mirror.Try on his abandoned tweed,segregation’s scent stillin the weave.Pull his braces up with your … Read more