Susan Isla Tepper has two new books of fiction coming out in the spring and winter of this year. She presented her darkly comic play CLANDESTINE in an Equity Premiere Staged-reading, hosted by SHOPTALK, on June 10 at EAG Guild Hall Theatre, NYC. Her most current Novel “Hair of a Fallen Angel” was published by Spuyten Duyvil Books. A twenty-year writer, she’s written 12 published books of fiction and poetry and 7 stage plays. Honors include 24 Pushcart Prize Nominations. Her play ‘The Crooked Heart’ concerning artist Jackson Pollock premiered on October 25, 2022 at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC. Adapted from an earlier novel, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Susan is a Brand Ambassador for The Galway Review. A Youtube music video for her latest novel at: https://youtu.be/W2HVIc4NrqY

STAINED GLASS

By Susan Isla Tepper

North on Walnut
sidewalk traffic is light
once night drops

People come
seeking absolution
down the rough stairs
leading to AA
from the alley

where rats scuttle.
It’s cold out there.

To which of these
shimmering colors
shall I turn—

Time to dive in head first
my throat cut
in the process
my offering: blood;
for peace
always peace

Unless

unless I encounter
you destructing;
then murder
will enter this chapel,
not I

and you will beg
down on your knees

so very sorry,
sorry sorry
repeating that same
refrain in many tongues.

Ann Hillesland is a California-based writer and photographer. Her work has been published in many journals, including Fourth Genre, Sou’wester, Bayou, The Laurel Review, Ghost Parachute and SmokeLong Quarterly. Her fiction has been selected for the Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions, nominated for Pushcart Prizes, and has been presented onstage by Stories On Stage. She is a graduate of the MFA program at Queen’s University of Charlotte.