Susan Isla Tepper has a Novella just out from Wilderness House Press titled GIRL UPSIDE DOWN. Currently it is only available from the author direct. A twenty-year writer, she has penned 14 published books of fiction and poetry and 7 Stage Plays. Honors include 25 Pushcart Prize Nominations, a win in the Francis Ford Coppola Zoetrope Contest for the Novel (2003), Second Place Winner in Story/South Million Writers Award and more. Her stage play ‘The Crooked Heart’ concerning artist Jackson Pollock premiered on October 25, 2022, at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC. Adapted from an earlier epistolary novel, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. www.susantepper.com
Plain Brown One
An aggressive bird
possibly a Blue Jay
has broken
this plain brown one
Who doesn’t move
when I come into sight
Tho’ upright—
its feet planted
firm on the ground
I see no impending death
the profile eye alert
till I speak in soft tones
moving a step closer—
it begins to waddle
Surely broken
or my presence
would send it soaring up
through the wild bright tangle
to disappear into sky
Glenn Bowie is a published poet, lyricist, musician and photographer from the Boston area. He also owns and operates an elevator company that supplies custom-built elevators for clients from New England to Hollywood. Author of two poetry and photograph collections (Under the Weight of Whispers and Into the Thorns and Honey) on Big Table Publishing, he donates all profits from his books to various charities for the homeless and local animal shelters.