Abrar Ahmad
About Abrar Ahmad
Abrar Ahmad is a student at Texas A&M University of Corpus Christi, majoring in Computer Science under the Game Programming concentration. In his sophomore year, he gained a love of creative writing and picked up a minor in Creative Writing.
The Bus Stop
It is a stormy evening in a forested area. Downpour is torrential. There's a bus stop where a peculiar female waits. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't have an umbrella or a proper raincoat. So, she has no other choice but to endure the large droplets beating down on her black hair that has an odd color of purple. She clutches her worn, black leather jacket tightly as she shivers and growls...
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Andrea Perez
About Andrea Perez
Andrea Perez is a Corpus Christi native. She started writing in the Fall of 2019 after the tragic death of her dog Max to distract her from grief. She hopes to write a children’s book about Max soon. Writing is a creative outlet she now enjoys and hopes to have her poems published in an anthology. When not writing she enjoys yoga, meditation and Reiki.
Yellow Fields
Memories from a past life
You can’t regret or forget
The visions rewind in your head
The most beautiful golden hue
Flowers glowing...
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AZRAEL MONTOYA
About Azrael Montoya
I grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas and I’ve lived here all my life. I graduated from Tuloso
Midway High School in 2008. As a young kid film and television have been a big and
influential part of my life. I’m a big Power Rangers and Spiderman fan. I always enjoyed those
stories growing up. Life is about making a series of choices and hoping for some luck
sometimes.
1.The world
holds us in their arms and drops us down
into space to never be found again.
Like the Joker plays with Batman,
It’s that way with life you win, or you die.
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Ellissa Brewster
About Ellissa Brewster
Although she was raised on Long Island, New York , Ellissa Brewster has been a Texan most of her adult life and has enjoyed the good Corpus Christi life since 2006. She has worked as an organic farmer, a Montessori teacher, a journalist, a writing tutor and an ESL tutor. Most of her writing experience has been based on personal interviews related to public relations. Her work has been published in Tierra Grande magazine, The Business Journal of Corpus Christi, and Inspire, Coastal Bend Magazine. Ellissa’s hobbies include bird watching, gardening, book club, registering voters, and writing about her family’s history.
A Newsboy’s Christmas Memory as told to Ellissa Brewster
When you are a kid, things just are the way they are. You don’t have the perspective to judge if things should be different, nor do you know at the time which experiences are so unique that you will remember them 60 years later.
I grew up in Corpus Christi as a second generation Mexican-American. I realize now that my family did not have as much as some people did, but we were happy. I did not feel as if we were suffering—life was the way it was. Sometimes I overheard my parents worrying over the bills. Sometimes we had a car; sometimes we didn’t.
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Grant Mays
About Grant Mays
Grant Mays is an electrical engineering student at Texas A&M College Station. An ardent sci-fi fan, he started randomly writing this unnamed journal
GAZING INTO THE ABYSS
14:30 Hours 2:30. Doesn’t matter that it’s well into day planetside in N.A. To Eric 14:30 felt as shit as 04:30 would. The dull hum and vibrations, creaks and lurches and occasional flickering of light, the ship felt like 04:30 no matter the hour.
Of course, in space, the day/night cycle isn’t set by the stars but by the duty roster. The wonder of humanity’s greatest accomplishment was marred by its faults; its propensity to place the human in a situation so estranged from its evolutionary comfort zone that they almost lose sight of what it means to be human.
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Emma Helene Guerra
About Emma Helene Guerra
Emma Helene Guerra is a current student at Texas A&M University – Corpus
Christi studying English with a minor in Women and Gender Studies. She grew up in
Edinburg, TX within the Rio Grande Valley. Growing up within the RGV gave her a
unique aspect on culture, traditions, and her Mexican-German heritage. Guerra was
able to release her first book of poetry in July of 2019 titled “a singular experience: the
love, pain, and life of a young adult” which detailed her experiences with newfound
freedom after moving away from home and the rocky transition into becoming an adult.
She works daily on her writing to promote the representation for women, the Hispanic
community, and the LGBTQ+ community.
Counting Coins in the Dark
all we seem to know
is how to count coins in the dark.
blind to where they come from,
blind to where they’re going.
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Hilario Gonzales
About Hilario Gonzalez
Hilario is a teacher with the Corpus Christi Independent School District. His parents were initially migrant workers. They instilled in him a work ethic. He considers himself indigenous of Mexican descent.
I'm Bored
I'm bored and really not looking forward to doing my work. In my procrastination I am allowing my mind to wander. I think of the horror that our ancestors must have gone through 500 years ago when 90% of our population was wiped out by small pox and the massacre society that the Spaniards brought. Our people were forced to abandon the fields resulting in massive starvation. The Spaniards raped the women at will and fed our children to their dogs. Their religion was forced upon us while their priests pillaged our land. Our sacred texts were burned and our temples were destroyed. The Spaniards tried to destroy our culture and our religious beliefs as they committed genocide against our people. Yet, we survived. We are the children of the sun and there's nothing that can destroy us.
Jo Ann Sanderson
About Jo Ann Sanderson
JoAnn Sanderson was born in Iowa, received a Masters degree in English Education at Southern Illinois University, and taught many years in Illinois public schools. After she retired, she researched possible places to re-locate and made the wise decision to move to Corpus Christi, Texas. Recently she became interested in writing very short stories (flash fiction/micro-fiction).
Variety Is the Spice of Life
Friends, relatives, and acquaintances thought Maria was a clever lady. She enjoyed devising techniques to keep the romance alive in her relationship. She told them, “A man likes fantasy and intrigue, so I find ways to keep him interested. Variety is the spice of life, they say.” She called one of the techniques she used, “the greeting.” Each time he arrived, she would use it...
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Jimmy Willden
About Jimmy Willden
Jimmy Willden is an award-winning writer and filmmaker. He is also an American musician and composer. After beginning his career in music in 1998, Willden has since forayed into the world of filmmaking, winning several festival awards as director and screenwriter. He is also an accomplished journalist.
The Valley of the Used
At some point, the alcohol in my bloodstream subsided long enough for me to become
slightly coherent. I found that I was in some small inn, somewhere in Colorado, sitting in a chair
by the window. The blinds were open, and I was just staring off at the open Colorado skies that
lay beyond Interstate 76.
I blinked, and rolled my head around, but my useless body couldn’t stand the weight of it;
it fell to rest against my shoulder, as I stared at my feet. On the floor next to my bare feet was an
empty liter of whiskey. I tried to breathe, but the rotten smell of dried vomit permeated my sense
of smell, and instead, I gagged.
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jon gregory
About Jon Gregory
Jon Gregory worked for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram for 18 years. His poems, short stories and essays have been published in The American Dissident, The Dallas Review, Contexas, The DFW Poetry Review, the Austin International Poetry Festival's annual anthology, in Map of Austin Poetry e-zine, and elsewhere. He has a B.A. from Texas Lutheran University, where he won two short-story prizes from the English department and was associate editor of the literary magazine; and an M.A. from Corpus Christi State University (now Texas A&M-CC).
In Pursuit
As my cool, efficient car
Cut a metal swath
Through a brisk night
Of early spring,
I saw a muscled mastiff,
A strong, joyful machine,
Dart across the road
And narrowly out of peril.
Suddenly I saw his mate,
A virtual clone,
Eyes dazed and gleaming
With the pleasure of the chase.
I dared not stop
To see the living
Complete the race alone.
Karen Cline-Tardiff
About Karen Cline-Tardiff
Karen has been writing as long as she could hold a pen. Her works can be seen in several literary magazines and websites including Nowhere Poetry & Flash Fiction, Tuck Magazine, Pif Magazine, Unlikely Stories, Tuck Magazine, and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. She founded the Aransas County Poetry Society and hosts a monthly Open Mic in Rockport, Texas. She has a Kindle edition book of poetry, Stumbling to Breathe. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Gnashing Teeth Publishing.
Problematic
My husband wears his red-brown skin like a badge of honor. It wasn’t always so. He tells me stories of being young and of difference, being teased and hit for that difference. He tells me of finally feeling the first hints of acceptance when he got his “Indian Roll Card.”
Death Does Not Come in the Spring
flowers push hard against earth,
brown sandy loam gives way to
a impetuous green, stroked all
night by moonlight before fracturing
into pink and white and petals, splayed
open, inviting insects to dive in, butts
in the calm Spring breeze, partaking
of the nectar, satisfying their buzz
the slideshow sky is a lesson in
cloud physics, cumulonimbus reposing
in naked delight across the stratosphere,
unashamed of it’s virga, it’s streak
exposed for the world to see
my husband ambles around our
small acre, imagining where to place
the much-talked-about fire pit which
never materializes; there is salt water
coating our windows, forcing us outside
to see the eruption in our yard, the
stickers and stinging nettle reaching out,
cleaving onto our soles, our pant legs,
their hope for reproduction depending
not only on the wind, but on our wandering
my daughter is studious in her bedroom,
her online classes keeping her engaged
beyond the four walls of our home, a
hope for the continuation of our version
of normal continuing beyond this Spring,
our ancient imperatives echoing inside of us,
the innate knowledge of Spring as a bringer
of futures, where Death is not welcome
Matthew Rosas
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About Matt Rosas
Matthew Rosas was born in Corpus Christi, TX. He is the author of The Legend of
Mariquita and Other Short Stories, and of the upcoming novella, Praying not to
Fall. Matthew’s short fiction story, “The Angel” was featured in The Bilingual
Review of Arizona State University. He studied Short Fiction and Flash Fiction
with Inprint Inc. in Houston, TX. Currently, Matthew lives in Houston and serves
in education at George I. Sanchez Charter School.
Corpus Christi 1978
On Saturday mornings, my brother and I would wake up early, before cartoons,
while there was still static on TV. We’d sprint straight to our parent’s room, jump
on their bed, bounce up and down, and yell out “Dad is it time yet?” His first
answer was always a barely audible, “Five more minutes hijos. Just five more
minutes.” We’d leave. The same scene would repeat four or five more times until
he finally would say, “OK, go brush your teeth and get the rods ready.”
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Paul McCann
About Paul McCann
Paul McCann was born in College Station, TX. After attending the University of Texas at Austin, he went to Texas A&M University where he received his doctorate in 2003. He then moved to the coastal bend where he has lived for 14 years. He has authored two books. In 2008, Race, Music, and National Identity was published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press and in 2012 his first collection of poems, When the Wood is Green was published by Slough Press. His poems have appeared in The Berkeley Poetry Review, Bayou, and Argestes. He teaches Creative Writing at Del Mar College. He currently lives and writes in Rockport, Texas with his wife and two children.
Quantum Me
I can easily go back
and sandle my high school linoleum
in self-loathing
as greasy hairs and pimply faces
glide by in their secret fascism.
Easier perhaps than even last week...
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Skylar Pierce
About Skylar Pierce
Skylar is a local actor and college student. She’s a novice writer and would like to advance her craft. TUB MIRE is her first published work.
Tub Mire
There is a cozy town named Mentisdolum. With its greenery and thick fog, it is one of many towns and cities clustered on the outer rim of the bathtub. The tub is filled with swampy water that stretches beyond the horizon. It stands like an ancient monument to a time that no one remembers.
Tom looks over the edge, gripping the damp fence and pressing his feet firmly to the tub. Down below, eight miles away, he catches a glimpse of what looks like a green field through the thick clouds. What is it like down there?
He scrapes his finger back and forth through moss on the fence, letting it build under his nail. Dozens have been lost to the unmerciful trip down, and now he’s about to go. It’s commonly said that joining the Vanguard is something that’s only done by three types of people: the brave, the broke, and the bored. Tom wants to believe he’s the first type, but he’s probably more akin to the last. The thought of spending his whole life as just another moss farmer or beekeeper scares him way more than the long drop down into mysterious land with no hope of ever returning. Besides, the population cannot sustain itself on the rim, and everyone will die if they can’t establish new colonies. So, it seemed better to volunteer and be thought of as a hero.
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Tom Difrancesca
About Tom DiFrancesca
The author is a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard and a former newspaper columnist long
retired. Originally from Florida, he has now resided in Kingsville for almost eight years. He and his wife
Jill own and operate a small used bookstore located in historic downtown.
The Words
Much to the old man’s surprise, Charles H. Flato Elementary School on West Santa
Gertrudis Avenue in Kingsville, Texas was still standing. Not standing very sturdy mind you,
but it was still there all the same...
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Trev Trevino
About Trev Trevino
Trev Trevino, is a 22-year-old, San Antonio native. They are currently an undergrad student at
Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi and is studying English along with teaching and TESOL certifications. Trev has been actively and independently writing poetry and short stories for over five years non-academically with themes of love, searching for one’s identity, and being part of the LGBTQ+ community. Most recently, they have been published in the Windward Review and spoken at the graduate symposium at TAMUCC back in 2019.
Centennial
because it is late at night you listen to the trees and close your eyes
the suburbs that are surrounded by mountains are the quietest
you realize no one is around to make a sound
only the wind that pushes through branches and leaves that make it sound like rain...
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