Nonfiction

Surviving-Is-Little-Comfort_CNF_PSM13-Hannah-Comerford

Nonfiction Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24, 2023 Surviving Is Little Comfort by Hannah Comerford hen “The Cupid Shuffle” started playing at my friend Crystal’s wedding, I had a hard time breathing. Stupid asthma, I thought. The month before, an unworried nurse had prescribed me an inhaler and recommended allergy pills for my shortness of breath. As the R&B called us to dance, a dull pain throbbed in my right calf, like a sprain on day ...

Earls_Corner_CNF_CONTEST_PSM13-Dorothy-O’Donnell

Nonfiction Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24, 2023 Earl's Corner by Dorothy O'Donnell y father spent the last 25 years of his life in Alamogordo, New Mexico. This is where the Air Force tested Trinity, the first atomic bomb, on July 16, 1945. It exploded in a billowing mushroom cloud above the high desert town, bathing residents in toxic radiation and instantly turning the world into a more dangerous place. July 16 also happened ...

How_A_Stray_Dog_CNF_PSM13-Kurt-Schmidt

Nonfiction Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24, 2023 How A Stray Dog Infiltrated My Writing Life by Kurt Schmidt t was the smell of hot dogs that drew the male beagle into our yard. Without pausing to see if this was friendly territory, he headed straight for the barbecue. I said, “Get the hell out of here.” He wagged his tail as though he thought I loved him and went directly to my wife, Lexxie, who ...

The_Three_Graces_CNF_PSM13-Carole-Duff

Nonfiction Issue #13: Animals & Health July 24, 2023 The Three Graces by Carole Duff he Phone Calls My daughter, Jessica, stopped in the middle of the narrow sidewalk and pulled out her cell phone. “It’s Dave,” she said, her younger brother, my son David. It was Sunday morning for us in Hong Kong, Saturday night in Dallas where he was. Jessica looked up. “Dad’s gone.” The news was expected, given my ex-husband’s terminal cancer, yet unsettling, ...

Lighter PSM 12 CNF – Diane Gillette

Nonfiction Issue #12: Diagnosis December 31st, 2022 Lighter by Diane D. Gillette enter the ER with little more than my Wonder Woman hat, a library book I've barely begun to read, and a pain that is only familiar to those of us with an unruly uterus. I'm greeted by a sign that says it will be more than five hours before I can see a doctor, and I hope the book is a good ...

Nonfiction Issue #12: Diagnosis December 31st, 2022 Nonfiction Harvey Is Inside My Head | Deborah Meltvedt Obligate Ram Ventilation | Steph Amir Lighter | Diane D. Gillette You Don’t Know How It Feels | Scott Martin A Nightmare Before Christmas: Shared Decisions in the ER | Tyler Jorgensen Merry Migraines | Erin Darrow It’s Not the Final Answer | Wendy Kennar I Was Really Scared Last Night | Karen Buley A Brief History of My Living Room Couch | Meghan Beaudry Self-Portrait as a Suicide Attempt | Joanna Acevedo

A Brief History of My Living Room Couch PSM 12 CNF – Meghan Beaudry

Nonfiction Issue #12: Diagnosis December 31st, 2022 A Brief History of My Living Room Couch by Meghan Beaudry pring, 2013. We bought the couch on a Saturday from a store that hocked last season’s Ashley loveseats. It was our first major purchase as a couple. The furniture was new, but discount-- like us. My husband and I were recently married and even more recently not broke. A tall stick of a salesman whose tongue tripped ...

Obligate Ram Ventilation PSM 12 CNF – Steph Amir

Nonfiction Issue #12: Diagnosis December 31st, 2022 Obligate Ram Ventilation by Steph Amir d walked past the building many times before, but hadn’t paid it much attention. I was about nine years old, and at a loose end because my best friend wasn’t at school that day. I was wandering around the schoolyard looking for an alternate playmate, when I noticed the bricks on the corner of the sports-equipment shed. Rather than having neat 90-degree corners, ...

Self-Portrait as a Suicide Attempt PSM 12 CNF – Joanna Acevedo

Nonfiction Issue #12: Diagnosis December 31st, 2022 Self-Portrait as a Suicide Attempt by Joanna Acevedo e never said: You will not get better. He would never say that. My psychiatrist was, and always will be, a saint. It was no coincidence that his first name was Angel. But the prognosis was the same. What I have—Ultra Rapid Cycle Bipolar 1—doesn’t improve with time. Actually, it’s a progressive illness, and it continues to ravage its sufferers as ...

I Was Really Scared Last Night PSM 12 CNF – Karen Buley

Nonfiction Issue #12: Diagnosis December 31st, 2022 I Was Really Scared Last Night by Karen Buley was sitting here reading my book and everyone left, and I can’t find the baby!” Panic permeated my eighty-eight-year-old mother’s words when she called one Sunday evening in July 2020. “They’re gone.” A fierce burn seized my belly as I imagined my mother, alone in her independent living apartment, one hundred twenty miles away. “They were there last week,” I reminded ...