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Railroad Train to Heaven – Part XV
By Dan Leo In Railroad Train To Heaven Series

“I think we should go inside,” she said, still touching that organ which never seemed to give Jesus or any of the saints any trouble. “Oh, I can’t go in just yet,” I said. “Why, Arnold?” Again she pressed herself harder against me; but a curious thing, when a girl presses hard she feels soft. But unfortunately I was not. “Why can’t you go in?” she asked again. “Because, well, I have an, uh, you know --” “A hard-on?” “Well, yes,” I admitted. “So...

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The Miracle of Bereft John – Part XVI
By Tom Sheehan In Fables Fairy Tales and Folklore Series

Those in the know say it was a miracle in the offing, this turnaround of John Caliber who wanted to be a poet; he’s so bad at it that something good has to come from it, and his mother kept saying, "Don’t worry, John, your voice will come." His hair hung shaggy, he was bearded, he wore comfortable tan-colored sweaters a bit large for him, and was a good volunteer for church and civic tasks,...

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The Dream Mechanic – Part VII
By Tom Fillion In Series The Dream Mechanic

Son of a Biscuit The next time I saw Penelope she was with her boyfriend, Miguel Aguilar. He was sitting next to her instead of her father who had taken up with Gertrude Elfers. Good idea too, with Kenny hot on Penelope's trail, preening himself, trying to impress her with all his glitter, with the lights reflecting off all the fake medallions and stars on his security guard uniform. Miguel, on the other hand, had...

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The Idealists – Part VI
By CL Bledsoe In Series The Idealists

The Schedule Derick sits at his desk in the corner watching snow accumulate on the lawn and sidewalk outside. Students chase each other, throwing snowballs, pushing each other into drifts, playing. He scribbles on a student’s paper, watching. From the other room, he can hear Ruthie sobbing. He pushes his chair out, stands but doesn’t walk, takes two steps towards the closed door then returns and sits, staring. Some of the kids begin making a snowman....

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If the Penguin Were Female – Part VI
By Angela Nichols In If the Penguin Were Female Series

Hope Springs Eternal From the diary of Penelope Halwind:
Easter Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never Is, but always To Be blest: The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. -Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733
A couple of days after Joker ransacked my office, Stanley came by at closing time. "Here. This is for you." He handed me a tube, like you ship posters in. I walked with him to my office,...

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Lessons From the Orient Express – Part II
By Heather Ann Schmidt In Lessons From the Orient Express Series

Oh Captain, My Captain
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills, For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck, You've fallen cold and dead. ...

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Marwa – Part III
By Lois Bassen In Marwa Series

November, 2000 That November night, the sleet turning into snow promised a snow day. Marwa moved away from her desk and still glowing computer, away from IMed dialogues about math homework and upcoming Intel project deadline meetings. She lay down on her bed and shut her eyes. She liked the noisy sleet against the window that shifted sound volume with the silent snow carried by glass-thumping wind gusts. She saw the lovely (Burnt Siena Crayola color)...

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Send Us Your Short Stories, Your Series, Your Pride and Joy
By Paquita Roth In News

  • UPDATED: February 6th, 2010 As the Story Editor of Troubadour 21, I have had the immense pleasure lately of reading many wonderful short stories and discovering some excellent authors. I have only been the story editor here for a few months, but I have been involved with T21 since it was a mere gleam in our much esteemed executive editor’s eye. Carlton Smith had the amazing idea of bringing together artists of all kinds, not just...

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  • Two Appliqués
    By Donal Mahoney In Poetry

    If the greatest of these is charity then tell me again why it’s gauche if this young man in a...

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    A Grandmother Vigil
    By John Grey In Poetry

    No more married, or in love, just an ancient fragment found beneath the sheets, a saturated emptiness where...

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    Let’s make nuclear bombs
    By aashsh ameya In Poetry

    Let's make nuclear bombs One you keep, one for me And one we put in the earth’s...

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    Desperate Teenage Romantics – Part X
    By Zoey Day In Desperate Teenage Romantics Series

    The time after he’d left me was always the best and worst time. I felt perfect, loved, full and satisfied, but I still knew that soon I’d need him again, and he wouldn’t be there. I could feel it as I lay on my bed, like storm clouds on the edge of the horizon. Another reason it was bad was that I knew as soon as he left me, his thoughts might linger on me for...

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    Featured Articles

    Community and Renaissance (Editorial)
    by W.B. Burkholder

    We have, in the palm of our hands, an opportunity of the greatest importance. Let us work together, let us not take away from one another, but build a collaborative network of Poets, Authors and Artists that, together, and united can truly make a change in our communities and neighborhoods.

    Book Reviews

    R Jay Slais’ “Mice Verses Man”
    by W.B. Burkholder

    The voice of this poet sings the lamentations of typical man, the everyday man however, it comes to us in the form of a unique echo; one that resonates within us and only comes from the Poet, R Jay Slais.

    “The Bat’s Love Song” Heather Ann Schmidt
    by W.B. Burkholder

    his most recent collection of American Haiku by Heather Ann Schmidt is nothing short of a plate generously filled and piled high with delectable, literary morsels. The old adage of “You can’t stop at one” is at best, a meager comparison.
    Each of these poems/haiku comes with their own individual nuance, an aromatic flavor of [...]

    Interviews

    featuredimage Weekly Feature: Christopher J. Dwyer
    by Carlton Lloyd Smith and Paquita Roth

    Troubadour 21 is very proud to introduce Christopher Dwyer as our T21 in-house writer. He will be writing two stories a month, exclusively for T21. Christopher is a writer from Boston, Massachusetts, and his stories are beautifully written, filled with vivid images that either touch one’s heart or send chills down one’s spine. He has a special gift of being able to write in a variety of styles, either sensitive, touching love stories from a masculine perspective, or eery noir thriller stories of gore and blood that make one want to lock all doors and bolt all windows.

    featuredimage Weekly Feature: Lane Robbins
    by Carlton Lloyd Smith

    This article is part of a weekly feature, highlighting one of our contributors here at Troubadour 21. It is our hope that we may give you a peek inside the lives of the artists who create the art and the poets who create the poetry you see here on the site.

    Music and Theater

    featuredimage Shantel Bolks (A Drifter At Heart)
    by W.B. Burkholder

    Shantel Bolks attacks the strings of her Takamine Guitar with all the skill and craft of a master that has been playing for years.

    The vocals are just as masterful and her country, folk style is mesmerizing in the way she executes each and every song on this album.

    Shop Indie Bookstores

    Poetry

    Two Appliqués
    by Donal Mahoney

    If the greatest of these
    is charity


    A Grandmother Vigil
    by John Grey

    An ancient fragment found beneath the sheets


    Let’s make nuclear bombs
    by aashsh ameya

    Let’s make nuclear bombs


    Untranquil
    by Gary Beck

    The roar of engines shocks the night


    Weary Road
    by Gary Beck

    I have traveled far


    Short Stories

    Venenum
    by Christopher J. Dwyer

    I catch the sparkle of green in her eyes but try to focus on the sun’s slow crawl across the sky. My breaths are erratic and my heart wishes for this entire scene to be played out in black and white. She whispers something that I can’t hear, maybe a few words that will calm [...]


    Fourth of July Homecoming
    by Tom Sheehan

    All the way back to the last Fourth of July the boys had saved a cache of fireworks, the three pals, Snag and Chris and Charlie B, all twelve years old within three days of each other.


    Jack
    by Ronald Paxton

    The little boy extended his hand and Sarah Jane shook it. “ It’s nice to meet you, Jack,” she said.


    Invisible City
    by T. Ricks

    Surely this was a gray Sweet had never laid eyes on. The air was thick with something other than fog.


    A Birthday in Hollywood
    by P Mascarino

    Dark haired Sarah was running down an elegant Hollywood back street near a major movie studio in a subdued and reserved corner of the movie making community–no ugly movie production wardrobe trailers ever profaned this hidden street.


    Essays

    Applesmoke, Friendship
    by Tom Sheehan

    And we were staunch friends, at the outset of a lasting friendship.


    It’s All in the Maul
    by Tom Sheehan

    The deep woods glistened with a scary silence, now and then broken and highlighted by the crack of a freezing limb swearing it would fall to earth, yet promising a minor distortion.


    The Day Titanic Drowned
    by Tom Sheehan

    We were sitting on empty nail kegs next to his icehouse on the edge of Lily Pond in Saugus, Doc Sawyer and me, talking about everything and nothing in particular.


    Brute Immersion
    by Tom Sheehan

    The mirror folds in on itself. Images separate. At seven years of age I was drowning!


    A Little Red Wagon, a Long-Remembered Face
    by Tom Sheehan

    One Christmas many years ago there was for me one present from my parents, a little, done-over red wagon with a long hauling handle, and slatted sides.


    Artwork

    Unterer Rheinweg, Basel
    by Dawn Juliet Flower

    Johanntorbrueke, Basel
    by Dawn Juliet Flower

    Manifesto of a True American Artist and Poet
    by Michael Indorato

    All the channels on TV; from the comfort of a sofa we watch, entertained by the evils of our society


    Series


    by Dan Leo
    Railroad Train to Heaven – Part XV


    by Tom Sheehan
    The Miracle of Bereft John – Part XVI


    by Tom Fillion
    The Dream Mechanic – Part VII


    by CL Bledsoe
    The Idealists – Part VI


    by Angela Nichols
    If the Penguin Were Female – Part VI


    by Heather Ann Schmidt
    Lessons From the Orient Express – Part II