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.
My mother never told me about her half-brother and the scandal surrounding his life.
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…hangs on the wall behind the piano, the large photograph of my mother’s family taken in 1904. My mother, the baby, sits on my grandmother’s lap. My grandfather, Adolf Johansson, holds a toddler, an uncle I never met. Six children occupy this large formal portrait, along with their parents. Eleven would be the final…
By Anita G. Gorman
Read MoreI picked up the phone, even though caller id said Anonymous was on the other end.
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…the phone rang, I checked the Caller ID. Anonymous, it said. I didn't know anyone by that name. The phone rang again. Anonymous was calling a second time. I picked up the phone. Maybe it was a person who knew our code: if we don't answer, dial again right away. A young man was on the other…
By Anita G. Gorman
Read MoreDavid was a dear friend who passed away suddenly…
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…thought of you today and felt uneasy for the third time. This is unusual because every memory I have of you is…
By Sloane Angelou
Read MoreAn essay on friendship, music, grief, and recovery.
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…means something different to everyone, and even more so in this age of digital connection. The ritual I am most familiar with is the vigil. The best vigils involve candles and hope for good things to come, one way or…
By Casey Bottono
Read MoreFrom the mind of a poet’s philosophy of friendship.
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…myself pondering on the meaning of friendship. The love of friends can be very important in life. I know when I am at my wits end and the bottom ring of a ladder, I only need a helping hand from a friend I trust. But having a true friend means being a true friend to experience the special warmth you must be willing to…
By Eva Marie Cagley
Read MoreOn the evening of that same day she slipped into my bed, curling into the crook of my arm, purring.
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…a southern belle, sweet, gracious, and charming. My friend. Eddy described her as a very nice kitty - much too understated. She is a Lady. An aristocrat. Too gentle, too refined for this world. I do my best to meet her needs. She doesn’t rebuke my…
By K. L. Shipley
Read MoreHast thou considered my servant, Job.
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…of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered…
By K. L. Shipley
Read MoreWhen selling a home everything that can possibly go wrong does. In the midst of the pandemic, the stress and frustration reaches an unimaginable climax.
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…Kathryn?” he said. The August night air was dense with late summer humidity. I turned around to face a police officer clad in a crisp dark uniform, silhouetted in the cruiser’s headlights. I thought it was…
By Kathryn Schleich
Read MoreLettie always seemed to be suffering from some permanent but unnamed illness.
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…was also the only one of them to marry. But Lesta didn’t miss out on having children. She really helped raise my father, his brothers and sister, and later – me and my cousins. She was sort of an assistant mom and grandma…
By K. L. Shipley
Read MoreNeither cold, nor snow, nor lack of lodging dissuaded…
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…piercing northwest wind swirled icy cold & and a powdery haze of falling snow through the crowd. The bitter weather, along with ever more people had been blowing in since the night before. Bethany was little more than a village. There was no way to accommodate all these folks. Many camped by their wagons…
By K. L. Shipley
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