by Bill Foley
Dale stood frozen in the parking lot of the Essex Nursing Home like a decorative plant. Where am I? He felt the strong grip of a hand on his elbow leading him back inside.
“Come on, Mr. Malone. It’s time for Bingo in the recreation room,” the attendant said.
Dale tried to resist but the man holding his arm would not be deterred.
“I want to go home. I have to feed my dog, Teddy.”
“This is your home Mr. Malone. You don’t have a dog.”
“No one’s home. I gotta feed him.”
Read More »by Ramona Gore
Emi exhaled into the night, her breath quickly condensed by the cold air. She buried her icy hands even deeper into her pockets in an attempt to regain some warmth in her fingertips. Her cheeks had surely turned pink by now and the padding in her thick coat provided little relief from the brick wall she leaned against. Just as she was about to call it quits, he stepped out of the doorway she stood next to.
Read More »by Willow Page Delp
It was cold.
Piper was the embodiment of cold-resistant, sleeping without covers on cool sheets as she sweat through her pajamas. She was always sweltering — tying her dust-colored hair into a ponytail as perspiration gathered on the nape of her neck, slashing off the sleeves of her school uniform, keeping the ceiling fan spinning twenty-four-seven — much to her roommate’s chagrin.
When Opal saw the fan on, she would grumble, retreat into an oversized hoodie, and bury herself in her blankets, like a tunneling animal. Their arrangement was built on the fraught compromise, temperature-wise, but the balance was never mutual agreement — something closer to a ceasefire.
But, this morning, even Piper had to admit it was cold.
Read More »by William Cass
The Madison was old, red-brick, and smoke-stained on its far side from the chimneys of a nearby factory that had closed a decade ago. The building’s five stories housed a few dozen cramped, drab apartments, a few of which also served as places of business: a seamstress, a child care provider, an online counselor, a call center rep, a translator. Its small foyer was dimly lit and had no doorman. An elevator occupied most of the wall across from the front doors bordered by a plate glass window that looked out onto the sidewalk and street. A potted artificial ficus stood like a sentinel at the base of the third wall, and a bank of mailboxes filled the fourth.
Read More »WONDER, noun
verb
Source: Google by Oxford Languages.
We said it and we believe it. For us, wonder is at the root, the core of it all, the Amazine community and this whole project as much as life itself. It is an attitude that can, bit by bit, make, is making and has already made this world, this humanity a bit less indifferent, a bit more sensible, a bit sweeter in all its bitterness. It is interconnected with feelings of joy, love, curiosity, openness, as well as with values of inclusivity, empathy and respect towards all beings. It is the perspective we chose and will hopefully keep choosing with you by our side. But why wonder?
Read More »The Amazine community’s manifesto of sorts.
The world can be a weird, bittersweet place, so full of pain and so full of beauty. Humanity is weirder still, capable of such atrocities and foolishness, ignorance and hypocrisy, as well as amazing scientific discoveries and works of art that take our breath away, even more, humanity is capable of profound connection, companionship and joy. It aches to be alive, but that ache is sweet sometimes, isn’t it? You know the clichés: the flowers grow in dirt, the earth longs for rain, there is no butterfly without a transformation, no light without the dark, the sky excels its art only with the setting of the sun and the time right before the sunrise is the gloomiest.
We don’t deny any of it. We are deciding to embrace it all and by that open our eyes, minds, hearts and spirits for the many wonders, joys, beauties, uncertainties and paradoxes of this world. Be in search of the crack Cohen sang about. Because we can be disappointed by the world as we know it, even expect it to end pretty soon, and still keep on creating the one we want to live in. Push one word, thought, question, song, scene, story, hug and laugh at a time for the world that would actually be worth fighting for.
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The Amazine Community 