The train’s metal doors slide closed.
The windows of the vacant railway cars
snap darkness with space for all.
Author Bio: Thomas D. Praino, now retired, is a doctor by vocation and a veterinarian by profession.
Kennett Square Shitake Mushrooms
By Susan Anmuth
Suburban Philadelphia
not the Main Line
more like suburbs surrounding Paris.
How much are they paid?
What are their conditions?
Those workers from neighboring Mexican villages
(is it every spring or every fall)
converging on Kennett Square?
I asked my writing workshop leader
who in her day job writes promotion
for employers like the mushroom owners in Kennett Square.
In fact, for a mushroom owner in Kennett Square.
Marian didn’t know.
Why would she know – how then could
she tout the consummate mushrooms of Kennett Square?
Nor do I think about the Kennett Square women and men
who water and dig
fertilize and pick
package and ship,
while my shitake sizzle in EVO and ghee.
I think instead of Julia Child’s ignored advice –
For God’s sake, don’t crowd the mushrooms.
Beta Male
By Carney W. Mimms
The leader calls out
He will not let us stray
As we lope down the path
On the track of our prey
He is the alpha
His are the females
I’m forbidden to mate
With all that entails
They recoil from my scent
They spurn my advances
I’m biding my time
I’ll have other chances
When we’re back in our den
I try not to skulk
I’m the last to bed down
They all know why I sulk
It’s hard out in front
The big one grows weak
I’ll be ready to strike
When he’s not at his peak
He knows that I’m coming
I sense he’s afraid
It must come to a fight
For this pack we have made
When we meet on that day
And he drops by the trail
Twill be better for all
If he lowers his tail
If not I’ll show teeth
I’ll snarl and I’ll bristle
I’ll tear at his flesh
Yes, I’m grasping the thistle
I hope he submits
So I won’t have to kill
The pack will grow strong
From our contest of will
Every male wolf
Hears what they say
It’s lead, follow or get out of the way
Retrograde
By Bee Chiles
Swaddled in your arms,
my eyes damp,
cheeks streaked with
fears finally freed to speech.
Beautiful baritone
kisses every hollow of my ear.
You sing to me.
You sooth me…
‘We’re alone now.’
Author Bio:
Monologues
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My Wife Thinks I’m Crazy
By Ralph Badagliacca
[Author note: This is a spoken-word monologue, written as read at the Write Group Showcase. The ellipses represent pauses for dramatic effect.]
My wife thinks I’m crazy. Not the wacky, eccentric kind of crazy… the deeply troubled… really needs help… should probably be institutionalized… type.
She thinks it runs in my family… Whenever any of our children exhibits even the slightest erratic, unpredictable behavior… anything negative… she attributes it to my genes.
It’s true my father was depressed a lot of the time. But I explain to her that I’ve dedicated my life to not being him… that I firmly believe in free will, that I’m certain that nurture trumps nature, that I’m confident we can influence our own destinies… the world bends to a determined consciousness…
Optimistic attitudes like that, she says, are just another sign of your illness.
You see, my wife has a condition of her own… I had to come up with a name for it… she’s an alter-hypochondriac… she projects hypochondria onto other people… she practices projectile hypochondria… If you tell her you have a headache she convinces you it’s a brain tumor… cough twice and it’s tuberculosis… feel a chill… pneumonia.
If I misplace my keys, it’s a sign that Alzheimer’s disease is just around the corner and, should I protest any of her diagnoses in colorful language, she nods knowingly and makes a comment about Tourette Syndrome.
And it’s getting worse, thanks to Google and WebMD and a host of other online services and forums that report symptoms for every disease ever known to man…
If someone tells you something over and over… to reject it out of hand… you have to give it space in your mind, which gives it a certain reality… like my father’s depression.
I have this dream that embarrasses me because it’s so unoriginal. I arrive home. I open the door, which has three locks and a bar like the NYC apartment where two of our children were born.
Inside there are two men wearing white coats—that’s the unoriginal part—one has a scruffy beard; he really needs a shave.
So where do you go, my wife wants to know? Who are these people you meet? She thinks I’ve made you up. These are imaginary friends, aren’t they, she asks me? You’ve made them up.
The Write Group! Really? What’s right about it?
So, here’s my question: Are you real? If you are, I need you to bear witness. If I disappear for a number of months in a row, I need you to look for me in the local hospitals… and if you find me, maybe to visit and please bring your sketches and scenes with you—no more than eight minutes each.
And if you’re not real… well… I look forward to continuing exactly as we are… The setting hardly matters, does it?
Author Bio:
Raphael Badagliacca is the author of two books: Father’s Day: Encounters with Everyday Life (fathersdaybook.com) and The Yogi Poems and Other Celebrations of Local Baseball (yogipoems.com) and seven short plays that have run off-Broadway in NYC. His poetry has appeared in several journals and he has written more than 50 reviews of plays, at least 30 of which can be found at this web address: https://thefrontrowcenter.com/author/raphspacegmail-com/ “My Wife Thinks I’m Crazy” is from an upcoming book of monologues he has performed over the last four years, primarily at Monologues and Madness, in lower Manhattan. One of his recent projects has been the translation of a film about the actor Vincent Schiavelli from Sicilian and Italian into English subtitles.
Author Listings
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Here is a list of authors published in the Sampler in the order of appearance.
Essays
Helen Lippman
Rose Blessing
Ethel Lee-Miller
Sue Fine
Brooke Allen
Hank Quense
Bing Chang
Rosanna Cappelluti
Fiction
Nancy-Jo Taiani
Martha Moffet
Virginia Ashton
Donna O’Donnell Figurski
Virginia Cornue
Renae Madden
Brian Montalbano
Keith
Biesiada
Jeneil Stephen
Garlanda Washington
Marcia Mickley
Memoir
Cindy Pereira
Heloise Ruskin
Nimfa Gehman
Madelyn Hoffman
Poetry
Ronald Douglas Bascombe
Carole Stone
Laura Freedgood
Marco Emiliano Navarro
Paula R. Zacone
Mirela Trofin
Niraj Shah
Francesca Dharmakan Bremner
e.b. Littlehill
Raymond Sathyan Dharmakan Bremner
Leonie Lewis
Thomas D. Praino
Susan Anmuth
Carney W. Mimms
Bee Chiles
Monologues
Ralph Badagliacca
About This Book
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Please let us know how we did with this book. Your opinion can influence what we do in the future.
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This book is published by Strange Worlds Publishing. Usually, Strange Worlds concentrates exclusively on humorous and satiric fantasy and sci-fi novels from the strange mind of Hank Quense. This Sampler and the previous one in 2014 are exceptions.