From our many contests and many submissions, Story Institute brings you a collection of poems and short stories. Writers from around the globe have shared their works with us. We, in turn, share them with you.
If you wish to view just the poems, or perhaps prefer the short stories, click on the links to the side. Enjoy the shared creativity.
Poem - The Fifty Things Wrong With This Picture - Timothy Russell
By: Timothy Russell
None of this will hasten
or delay that dazzling flash
astonishingly brief on the horizon.
Some of these children have never seen
a river or an orchard or a pea pod
before today. Poppies and impatiens
that make you think “cinnamon”
instead of “cinnabar” perhaps
are in simultaneous bloom
with tiger lilies and chicory
along the road and bachelor buttons
and clematis near the porch.
The children are without dread.
They investigate every crevice
for the golden apples they’ve heard
about. Only this morning
a man in khaki drove a green tractor
through “that protected section
yonder” beyond which coal is being stripped.
Two starlings chase a sparrow
veering crazily but not dropping
the bread crust from its beak.
Not one detail here depends
on any other, not even the boy
in the chocolate and lemon polo shirt
about to discover a handful of bees.
Shared Short Stories - Short Stories from Story Institute contests and publications