Princess Charlotte leaned far out the single arched window of the tower, high above the rocky slopes. “Are you ready, Fizzle?” she called excitedly. Her scaly companion chirped happily, chain rattling as he thumped his massive tail. She had once feared the dragon - until she realized his ferocity was due to hunger. After all, the basket with her day’s rations came every morning, but she had never ...

We were ten. I liked to read at recess in the shady turret of the tallest slide. The others were busy chasing each other around the field, I could be alone there - most of the time.

She had come again. The shadow of her head fell on the pages my nose was buried in, and I looked up at that half-cocked grin I had learned to associate with misery.

She began her taunting tirade with the basics: los...

Leah and Jerry stroll through the softly sifting sand, on the lookout for anything out of place. The sacks they carry are nearly full of brightly colored bits of broken toys, sandy plastic bags, and a handful of red SOLO cups. Three more bags lay stacked against each other, full of beer cans to recycle. There were always more of those after a holiday weekend.

“People are trash,” Leah says darkly,...

I was lost to myself,

tossed my heart into hell.

Don’t want it, don’t need it,

don’t know what I’d do with it

if it began to beat.

I felt if I fell

no one could even tell.

So I stepped to that edge,

leaned out that window ledge

and your hand reached out for me.

Tumbling down this tunnel

We’re in trouble

Can you stand?

What we find at the bottom

Will take guts if we’ve got ‘em

Take my hand

Pu...

Trees surround like towering sentinels, keeping their silent watch for years, decades, centuries. Overhead, a skylight opens in the canopy to allow a single sunbeam to pour in like liquid, bright as a mirror, and fall at the feet of the Great Tree. She is the largest, oldest, strongest of the forest. She has housed generations, witnessed the fury of storms and heard the secrets whispered by the wi...