The Abstract Art Gallery
A writing gallery created by writers from around the world. From poetry to song lyrics, from essays to entire novels and short stories.
As he had done countless times…
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…back to the worst day of his life, January 21, 1970. He was 100 yards away from the ammunition truck when it blew up, killing 12 of his Army buddies. He would never forget the gruesome scene, the dismembered and burning bodies. As he had done countless times, he touched the names…
By Pete Black
Read MoreTabitha was emptying the wastebasket...
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…when she found Stephen’s three wadded-up typewritten pages. After knocking off the cigarette ashes and smoothing out the pages, she began to read. It was good, and she wondered how the story ended. Tabitha was keenly aware that her…
By Pete Black
Read MoreMore than 300 people filled…
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…than 300 people filled the large auction hall at Sotheby’s Auction House. They had come for a huge sports memorabilia auction. Babe Ruth’s home run bat, which christened a brand new Yankee stadium in 1923, was the auction’s…
By Pete Black
Read MoreWhen Laura started across…
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“You are to pay special attention to those who by accident of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with…
By Pete Black
Read MoreWhen Moses Carver got word...
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…slave traders from Arkansas raided Moses Carver’s plantation at night. They burned the fields and the barn. And they kidnapped Mary, a slave who had lived and worked on the Carver farm for a decade, and her one-week-old…
By Pete Black
Read MoreScottish Commander Ernest Gordon lay dying…
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…lay dying in the infamous Japanese prison camp in a Thailand jungle on the bank of the Kwai River. He had been placed next to fellow prisoners of war on the muddy ground next to several corpses in the…
By Pete Black
Read MoreNear the end of the 1965 college football…
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…to your grandmother?” asked SMU football coach Hayden Fry. Jerry LeVias responded, “The line was busy.” The game with TCU was 10 minutes from kickoff, but Fry had made a promise. He borrowed a quarter from a band member and the two of them placed a call on a payphone under the stands to Ella LeVias in…
By Pete Black
Read MoreColonel Hank Reed hated to abandon the horses, but…
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…hated to abandon the horses, but could he risk soldiers’ lives to save a herd of horses? The decision was above his pay grade. Reed knew his old Virginia polo buddy, George Patton, commander of the Third Army in Europe, was the only one…
By Pete Black
Read MoreAfter years of looking over the convent…
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…years of looking over the wall at the filth and poverty in the streets beyond, she could no longer ignore what she saw. She resigned as principal of St. Mary’s High School for girls to work with the poor. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, but she had no idea just how difficult and discouraging the work would…
By Pete Black
Read MoreJackie, there's virtually nobody on our…
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…the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers was deeply concerned that there were no black players in major league baseball. He knew baseball needed to change, but he knew it would be challenging to break the color barrier. He was willing to take the risk. Rickey’s challenge: to find…
By Pete Black
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