Ophelia
Sarah Beck Mather
Author: meganrusso
Balloon Strings
Balloon Strings
Rebecca Harmon
The summer of 2014 I got paid to tie
balloon strings for three hours.
A lady came in demanding
aqua ribbon but we only had teal.
My fingers turned blue from too tight knots.
I liked it.All my balloon strings tied to you.
Little bands of yellow, purple, and yes,
teal.
Strung together at the ears, wrists, and knees.
Let’s stay like this
you’d say.
Please
I’d reply.You started undoing strings.
Just one little knot, gnawed
with your teeth.
I tied it to your shirt, belt loop, shoelace.
They all came undone.Kevin Browne
Kevin Browne
Photography Contributor
Kevin Browne is an anthropologist and writer living in Wisconsin.
Works in Nightingale & Sparrow
Creekside Impressions
Creek in Spring
Marsh life in Spring
Iris in BloomSamantha DeFlitch
Samantha DeFlitch
Poetry Contributor
Samantha DeFlitch is the author of Confluence (Broadstone Books, 2021). Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Colorado Review, The Missouri Review, and Iron Horse Literary Review, among others. She is the Associate Director of the Connors Writing Center at the University of New Hampshire, where she completed her MFA and was the recipient of the 2018 Dick Shea Award for Poetry. She lives in New Hampshire with her corgi dog, Moose.
Works in Nightingale & Sparrow
Christi Krug
Christi Krug
Creative Nonfiction Contributor
Christi Krug’s poetry and prose have appeared in everything from religious magazines to self-help books to comic book anthologies. Her latest fiction appears in Luna Station Quarterly. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and recently served as writer-in-residence at North Cascades Institute. She is a multi-faceted coach of creativity and mindfulness, and the author of Burn Wild: A Writer’s Guide to Creative Breakthrough. www.christikrug.com
Works in Nightingale & Sparrow
𝄆
𝄆
Kirsty Jones
Sycamore buds burst
tight twisted forms unfurling
in timeless rhythmumbrella crowns – astounding
to think they held themselves so
smallspreading glorious now
to delight in the dancefloor crush
of another sultry summerbefore curling
into themselves
to drift, decay
disintegrateto soil
and rootand when the earth
warms itself once morethe sycamores
sway wildly
limbs outstretchedstronger
for all that came before.Hannah Madonna
Hannah Madonna
Fiction Contributor
Hannah Madonna is a writer from Mississippi, where she works as a librarian. She is currently working towards an MFA in creative writing, and her work has appeared in Capsule Stories, Flash Fiction Magazine, and elsewhere. Find her on twitter talking about board games, writing, or her cats @hannahwritegood.
Works in Nightingale & Sparrow
At-One-Ment
At-One-Ment
Susan P. Blevins
I am the soil beneath my feet,
ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
seamless merging of human,
vegetable, animal and mineral.I am the birdsong all around me,
players in an avian symphony,
harmonies reconciling dissonance,
soul-song fresh and new as spring.I am the woodland canopy
stretched out above my head,
clad in nascent tender green,
offering shelter, beauty, fruitI am the warm and gentle air
that breathes me into divine harmony
far beyond the will of my creating,
time an abstract concept,
my only certainty, the nowLindsey Pucci
Lindsey Pucci
Photography / Visual Art Contributor
Lindsey Pucci lives with her Husband and son in Minnesota. She was the recipient of the Carol Quillins Art Scholarship for her digital photography from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse where she earned her degree in art education. He at has been shown in the Wisconsin galleries The Pump House and The State Street Gallery, as well as several online publications.
Works in Nightingale & Sparrow
Rolling In
Point of the Knife
Journey
Hot Spring II
Double Indemnity
Kinstone
Minnesota Monet
Seattle Sunrise
