Our Last Night (tw: abuse)

Travis Cravey Editor’s note: I am drawn to Travis’s writing because his stories are honest and memorable. He features characters the reader […]

Between The Nail and The Skin

Hema Nataraju Editorial note from Janus Literary reader, Myna Chang, who asked Hema to submit her work: I love the way humor […]

yellow train

Lost Property

Lynda Cowles 13:44 The last train leaves the station. Rails hiss. Cables buzz. Pigeons flap then float back down. On the platform, […]

writings in a planner

Accommodation

Kim Murdock Her husband worked late and her daughter was made of clothes and music so Miranda decided to arrange the calendar […]

pink background with speech bubble

Speech and Language Milestones

Kathryn Aldridge-Morris Between 0-6 months babies should coo, begin babbling and mimic sounds                        Heart rate dipping, something about the umbilical cord around […]

food plate healthy restaurant

Sunshine Sugar

Amy Stone I smile. I can hear those paws in the snow, padding over to where I stand. Sure enough, he’s at […]

selective focus photography of turned on black metal framed light sconce

Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Salt

Fiona J. Mackintosh In the crouch of twilight, he hums a single tuneless note under the droop of the rhododendrons. From beyond […]

healthy fashion person woman

Little Miss Buford

Edie Meade I spend a lot of time on the floor behind the deli counter at Buford’s Grocery, watching the top of […]

Go-Go

Marie Gethins He shouted, ‘What the hell?’ filling his boot with beer as I headed towards the exit A first date at […]

gray and black galaxy wallpaper

Trent Lock

Rachael Smart The river is black and fast legging it. High up in the bones of the trees, spring comes, pinkly, and […]

food man people woman

I Don’t Want Dentures

Anika Carpenter I’m saving for implants like delft pottery, porcelain painted with windmills and flowers; teeth I’ll show off at the Kings […]

fir tree decor

A Paranormal Dialogue

(CW/TW: abuse) Constance Malloy He’s dead. Frozen in time. Etched forever in charcoal, posing with his arm on a chair back. But […]

fashion red people woman

Halo

Meagan Johanson Your mother was in love with you. Enchanted—everyone was, she says, pulling the hair color box from the bag. Those […]

fuel dispenser

Pam’s Pantry

Shawn Van Horn I read that they’re finally tearing it down.   It has always been there, way before I moved here, […]

close up of hand holding pencil over white background

Biblion

Shawn Van Horn I’ve broken up with the world. Words are my new mistress. You’re my way out of here. Doors open […]

selective color photography of orange tulip

Vanitas

Jared Beloff Stare hard enough and still edges will followthe lines of your eyes as you move away,a burst of color revealing […]

white and black moon with black skies and body of water photography during night time

The Man in the Moon

Joel LeBlanc The man in the moon sat down on my bed and started smoking a twisted cigarette between yellowing teeth and […]

The Business of Witches

Joel LeBlanc The business of witches is one of harvesting truths like plants of predicting babies and midwifing divorces, taking midnight phone […]

Horseshoe Crabs

Joel LeBlanc I opened my mouth to say something sweet, but you may notice the briny sea that lives beneath my throat, […]

red boat on water near green trees

Lesson in Survival

Jamy Bond             I’d lost my lover to heroin: lips like small blue balloons, skin like frosted glass. I needed a new life. […]

bright whole ripe oranges on wooden table

every time we think of her

Christina Kapp she held an orange / probed her thumb / with enough force / to wrench skin / from flesh / […]

closeup photo of brown and black dog face

The Muse

Simon Lee-Price My dog takes no interest in other dogs or bones. But if I have to write poetry he sits in […]

When the Scarves Fell

Katie Piper               Grandad sat in the chair he always retired to after Sunday dinner. It had slender, polished arms and his […]

white dandelion flower shallow focus photography

Seeds

Jolene McIlwain               My wife leans into her pappy―Macon, she said yesterday―in this photo we found folded in a hankie in a […]

landscape nature flowers summer

Hay Fever

Rebecca Bailey Rude as dandelion seeds, yet you still grow,  The dock leaf to my thistle counterpart. For years I reaped, could […]

woman wears gold colored blue gemstone pendant necklace

The Conifer and the North Wind

Geraldine Clarkson He gave me a gift of needles bound round in banana leaves, fragrant, folded in coconut wood.  He came to […]

brown cattle on green lawn grass during daytime

Sturdiness

James Garza Q:   is there something erotic about destroying the environment?     A:          yes     we roll up […]

close up photo of ring

Consumed

Sarah Green Gamber Sally looked from the cluttered sink to the window ledge where her sister’s diamond ring sat in a soap-dish. […]

Saudade (2nd Place)

Philip Charter When Richie McManus lost his hand in the hydraulic winch, he said he screamed like a banshee, but the North […]

Seven Tears (shortlisted)

Nuala O’Connor To call the merrow-man to the shore, you must shed seven drops of eye-brine into the sea. This is what […]

All the Broken Things (shortlisted)

Melissa Bowers VII. Afterward, every beach is vacant. Our children still race for the sand, rip at the fluttering caution tape, ignore […]

A Hole in the Wing (shortlisted)

Ian O’Brien The slowboat heaved on the black ocean. The weather seemed to have followed her from Dublin, lashing the deck, the […]

Origami Wars (shortlisted)

Amy Barnes My father sleeps skeleton-folded in a closet box. His face is pressed against his knees, a jumble of paper bones […]

Leviathan (shortlisted)

Sutton Strother In her last life, your mother was a whale. She makes no secret of it, so you grow up carrying […]

Last Boat

Ed Barnfield “You have ancestors. Remember them, their names. The Moken, the Sama-Bajau. Lives before yours, expended on the water. Follow their […]

Thirst

Lorraine Thomson Alabama, Alaska, Arizona. Ever been thirsty? I’m talking about a thirst as deep as the ocean. A thirst like that […]

Two Tusks

Katie Oliver Being a narwhal with two tusks sounds fun, doesn’t it? Special. That’s what I thought too, once. Granted, it’s better […]

Flint’s Left-behind Girl

Jess Moody “I know an island.” The words that saved the lips that spoke them.  The Captain had no time for my […]

Sea Mother

Jason John Kahler The oars broke the water as the morning sun broke the horizon. The first hours of the summer solstice […]

Put Weed in the Drawing Wave

Kate MacCarthy On Maundy Thursday in 1911, Ruaridh waded out waist deep into the water. The Atlantic was a glaucous grey-green in the […]

Amelie

Lauren Foregger This house is more like a ship. If it weren’t for the chimneys and the pitched roof, I’d consider calling […]