Narrative
@narrativemag.bsky.social
Non-profit publisher of fiction, poetry, essays & art. Since 2003, where readers, writers, teachers & students meet. Our free library is always open.
narrativemagazine.com
narrativemagazine.com
“You hope you can be like the river and the music. You want motion to take you to a new place and want even more for the place you just were to be left far behind.” —Brent King, “Finding Absolution in the Flow”
December 12, 2025 at 8:39 PM
“You hope you can be like the river and the music. You want motion to take you to a new place and want even more for the place you just were to be left far behind.” —Brent King, “Finding Absolution in the Flow”
Cartoon by Jake Goldwasser
December 12, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Cartoon by Jake Goldwasser
“I saw my ex-husband in the street. I was sitting on the steps of the new library.
Hello, my life, I said.” —excerpt from “Wants” by Grace Paley
Hello, my life, I said.” —excerpt from “Wants” by Grace Paley
December 11, 2025 at 6:21 PM
“I saw my ex-husband in the street. I was sitting on the steps of the new library.
Hello, my life, I said.” —excerpt from “Wants” by Grace Paley
Hello, my life, I said.” —excerpt from “Wants” by Grace Paley
@caroledgarian.bsky.social is back to the alphabet this week with “dogma.” Join her for this week’s “A Word, Please.”
bit.ly/3t85Mqp
bit.ly/3t85Mqp
December 10, 2025 at 11:17 PM
@caroledgarian.bsky.social is back to the alphabet this week with “dogma.” Join her for this week’s “A Word, Please.”
bit.ly/3t85Mqp
bit.ly/3t85Mqp
“Strange times call for new words, or at least old words brought back.” —Carol Edgarian
@caroledgarian.bsky.social
@caroledgarian.bsky.social
December 10, 2025 at 7:32 PM
“Strange times call for new words, or at least old words brought back.” —Carol Edgarian
@caroledgarian.bsky.social
@caroledgarian.bsky.social
Your gift supports a new generation of writers.
And . . .
And . . .
December 10, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Your gift supports a new generation of writers.
And . . .
And . . .
“This father who found pleasure
in hardboiled dicks, half-clad dames,
and misogynist jokes, which my mother shrugged off
with a smirk because she was the boss
and he knew it.” —excerpt from David Grubin’s “Hard-Boiled Mystery”
in hardboiled dicks, half-clad dames,
and misogynist jokes, which my mother shrugged off
with a smirk because she was the boss
and he knew it.” —excerpt from David Grubin’s “Hard-Boiled Mystery”
December 9, 2025 at 7:24 PM
“This father who found pleasure
in hardboiled dicks, half-clad dames,
and misogynist jokes, which my mother shrugged off
with a smirk because she was the boss
and he knew it.” —excerpt from David Grubin’s “Hard-Boiled Mystery”
in hardboiled dicks, half-clad dames,
and misogynist jokes, which my mother shrugged off
with a smirk because she was the boss
and he knew it.” —excerpt from David Grubin’s “Hard-Boiled Mystery”
Our annual High School Writing Contest opens for submissions in 29 days!!
High schoolers, it’s time to get writing. ✏️
www.narrativemagazine.com/narrative-fo...
High schoolers, it’s time to get writing. ✏️
www.narrativemagazine.com/narrative-fo...
December 9, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Our annual High School Writing Contest opens for submissions in 29 days!!
High schoolers, it’s time to get writing. ✏️
www.narrativemagazine.com/narrative-fo...
High schoolers, it’s time to get writing. ✏️
www.narrativemagazine.com/narrative-fo...
“Fuck it. I’m too porous. Everything rushes in. Everything that ever drove me crazy with dumb hope, every letdown. Here it is.” —Dion O’Reilly, “Oh for Fuck’s Sake”
@dionoreilly.bsky.social
@dionoreilly.bsky.social
December 8, 2025 at 10:23 PM
“Fuck it. I’m too porous. Everything rushes in. Everything that ever drove me crazy with dumb hope, every letdown. Here it is.” —Dion O’Reilly, “Oh for Fuck’s Sake”
@dionoreilly.bsky.social
@dionoreilly.bsky.social
“We dressed in jeans and T-shirts, our long hair close in color, looking more like brother and sister than lovers. John had cut a strand of his hair, and mine; I had braided them together.” —excerpt from “Evisceration” by Maryanne Chrisant
December 8, 2025 at 6:52 PM
“We dressed in jeans and T-shirts, our long hair close in color, looking more like brother and sister than lovers. John had cut a strand of his hair, and mine; I had braided them together.” —excerpt from “Evisceration” by Maryanne Chrisant
“As I grow older and wedded by time, I spend so much more of it dreaming.”
—Dan Gerber, “Now”
—Dan Gerber, “Now”
December 5, 2025 at 8:30 PM
“As I grow older and wedded by time, I spend so much more of it dreaming.”
—Dan Gerber, “Now”
—Dan Gerber, “Now”
Cartoon by P.C. Vey
December 5, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Cartoon by P.C. Vey
“violently in its magnificent eye,
and as if seized in a maelstrom’s clasp,
it swims for a while, but by and by
abandons itself, slips from its own grasp” —excerpt from Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Rose Window”
and as if seized in a maelstrom’s clasp,
it swims for a while, but by and by
abandons itself, slips from its own grasp” —excerpt from Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Rose Window”
December 4, 2025 at 5:07 PM
“violently in its magnificent eye,
and as if seized in a maelstrom’s clasp,
it swims for a while, but by and by
abandons itself, slips from its own grasp” —excerpt from Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Rose Window”
and as if seized in a maelstrom’s clasp,
it swims for a while, but by and by
abandons itself, slips from its own grasp” —excerpt from Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Rose Window”
“To be so full of.
Everything. At her age. It is very difficult.” —excerpt from C. D. Wright’s “Girl Friend”
Everything. At her age. It is very difficult.” —excerpt from C. D. Wright’s “Girl Friend”
December 3, 2025 at 10:45 PM
“To be so full of.
Everything. At her age. It is very difficult.” —excerpt from C. D. Wright’s “Girl Friend”
Everything. At her age. It is very difficult.” —excerpt from C. D. Wright’s “Girl Friend”
“Give me language
in true terrain
Let me reach tendon
vigor” —excerpt from “Stutter Poetica” by Talia Isaacson
in true terrain
Let me reach tendon
vigor” —excerpt from “Stutter Poetica” by Talia Isaacson
December 3, 2025 at 7:46 PM
“Give me language
in true terrain
Let me reach tendon
vigor” —excerpt from “Stutter Poetica” by Talia Isaacson
in true terrain
Let me reach tendon
vigor” —excerpt from “Stutter Poetica” by Talia Isaacson
This Giving Tuesday, support writing that inspires, empowers, and connects us.
Thanks to supporters like you, young readers are able to find the stories that ignite their passion for reading and writing.
Thanks to supporters like you, young readers are able to find the stories that ignite their passion for reading and writing.
December 2, 2025 at 6:55 PM
This Giving Tuesday, support writing that inspires, empowers, and connects us.
Thanks to supporters like you, young readers are able to find the stories that ignite their passion for reading and writing.
Thanks to supporters like you, young readers are able to find the stories that ignite their passion for reading and writing.
“We are wired to anchor consciousness to deep emotion, and almost nothing catalyzes emotion like art. Though my collapse in front of ‘Orange Functional’ was a moment of losing myself, it ultimately led to finding at least some part of that same self.” —Dean Rader, “Tilting at Windmills”
December 1, 2025 at 11:37 PM
“We are wired to anchor consciousness to deep emotion, and almost nothing catalyzes emotion like art. Though my collapse in front of ‘Orange Functional’ was a moment of losing myself, it ultimately led to finding at least some part of that same self.” —Dean Rader, “Tilting at Windmills”
“When I die, I wish a part of me remains.
You’ll stroke it and remark with surprise
and delight how very soft it is.” —excerpt from Staci Halt’s “Soft”
You’ll stroke it and remark with surprise
and delight how very soft it is.” —excerpt from Staci Halt’s “Soft”
December 1, 2025 at 10:45 PM
“When I die, I wish a part of me remains.
You’ll stroke it and remark with surprise
and delight how very soft it is.” —excerpt from Staci Halt’s “Soft”
You’ll stroke it and remark with surprise
and delight how very soft it is.” —excerpt from Staci Halt’s “Soft”
“I believed, and still do, in the virtue of hard work. The ability to persist matters more than talent, forget about genius. The fates would reverse themselves. Our luck was bound to change.”
—Bill Barich, “A Trailer by the River”
—Bill Barich, “A Trailer by the River”
November 21, 2025 at 10:35 PM
“I believed, and still do, in the virtue of hard work. The ability to persist matters more than talent, forget about genius. The fates would reverse themselves. Our luck was bound to change.”
—Bill Barich, “A Trailer by the River”
—Bill Barich, “A Trailer by the River”
Cartoon by Rina Piccolo (@rinapiccolo.bsky.social)
November 21, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Cartoon by Rina Piccolo (@rinapiccolo.bsky.social)
TODAY is your last chance to submit to our Fall Story Contest!
www.narrativemagazine.com/fall-2025-st...
www.narrativemagazine.com/fall-2025-st...
November 21, 2025 at 7:42 PM
TODAY is your last chance to submit to our Fall Story Contest!
www.narrativemagazine.com/fall-2025-st...
www.narrativemagazine.com/fall-2025-st...
We’re grateful for the stories that refuse to disappear.
Gratitude, this year, means protecting their words.
www.narrativemagazine.com/archive/auth...
Gratitude, this year, means protecting their words.
www.narrativemagazine.com/archive/auth...
November 20, 2025 at 10:47 PM
We’re grateful for the stories that refuse to disappear.
Gratitude, this year, means protecting their words.
www.narrativemagazine.com/archive/auth...
Gratitude, this year, means protecting their words.
www.narrativemagazine.com/archive/auth...
Our Fall Story Contest closes TOMORROW, so make your final edits and send those pieces in!
www.narrativemagazine.com/fall-2025-st...
www.narrativemagazine.com/fall-2025-st...
November 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Our Fall Story Contest closes TOMORROW, so make your final edits and send those pieces in!
www.narrativemagazine.com/fall-2025-st...
www.narrativemagazine.com/fall-2025-st...
“The slow-falling leaves contain the space of the story I’m pursuing.”
—Rick Bass, “Writing in October”
—Rick Bass, “Writing in October”
November 19, 2025 at 10:31 PM
“The slow-falling leaves contain the space of the story I’m pursuing.”
—Rick Bass, “Writing in October”
—Rick Bass, “Writing in October”
“Let me remember
there’s a door inside
each flower, and we all
slip through one day.” —excerpt from “Transcendentalism I” by Rob Shapiro (@rob-shapiro.bsky.social)
there’s a door inside
each flower, and we all
slip through one day.” —excerpt from “Transcendentalism I” by Rob Shapiro (@rob-shapiro.bsky.social)
November 19, 2025 at 7:04 PM
“Let me remember
there’s a door inside
each flower, and we all
slip through one day.” —excerpt from “Transcendentalism I” by Rob Shapiro (@rob-shapiro.bsky.social)
there’s a door inside
each flower, and we all
slip through one day.” —excerpt from “Transcendentalism I” by Rob Shapiro (@rob-shapiro.bsky.social)