Nonfiction Archives | Poor Yorick

My hand slides into my left front pocket, reaching for my iPhone. It’s not blind reflex or mechanical routine. It‘s a practice. I have decided quite intentionally to do less of other things so I can do more of this. When I grab my iPhone, I’ve trained myself to be ready, curious, and alert. I try to frame a photo so that I’m seeing what interests me, eliminating what doesn’t, and keeping my own image out of it. … Continue reading“Beauty, Prayer, and the Sticky Image: My iPhone Practice” by Randall VanderMey

Featured, Nonfiction

“An Eternal Light” by Mara Fein

July 31, 2020August 31, 2020 pooryorick

Loss can be a terrible thing, but not always. In some cases, “gone” is good. After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder. People who lose weight are happy.

But it’s not only what we lose that changes us. It’s what we keep, as well. … Continue reading“An Eternal Light” by Mara Fein

image of chain link fencing hanging between two cement posts, over slate path

Nonfiction

“4 Objects, 21 Lessons,” by Steven Wingate

April 26, 2020December 17, 2020 Briana McGuckin

“Freshly divorced, I drive from Miami, Florida, to Durham, New Hampshire, with my new girlfriend, who is headed for grad school there. We arrive a day early and decide to spend a night at Ogunquit Beach in southern Maine, a place I’d enjoyed greatly with my ex-wife and now want to reclaim as a single man. A depressed man. A browbeaten man. But a single man, choked with possibility.” … Continue reading“4 Objects, 21 Lessons,” by Steven Wingate

Nonfiction

“An Amputee Looks Through a Ring,” by Dina Peone

October 15, 2019August 31, 2020 Briana McGuckin

I wore it on my right middle finger: one of ten short but slender, pale, nervous, guitar-blistered fingers which melted in a room on fire during my sixteenth year. … Continue reading“An Amputee Looks Through a Ring,” by Dina Peone

Nonfiction

“The Book,” by John Bonanni

August 20, 2019August 31, 2020 Briana McGuckin

My father had an unusual book that rested on his work desk. It was worn and brown. The covers looked hard, almost like a box. When I was a child, from my view at four feet, the ends seemed tinted, a marbled brown design, chipped at the edges. I imagined it to be a case, a chest filled with things I might find interesting or valuable. I wanted to look inside. … Continue reading“The Book,” by John Bonanni

Archived, Nonfiction

German Immigration and New York’s Garment Industry

September 20, 2018September 17, 2020 Rebecca Shaw

By Lisa Peterson By the turn of the 20th Century, German immigrants, many of them Jewish, were coming to America in droves to start a new life. They landed in New York City equipped with their trade, as milliners, tailors, and hat makers. These men and women were skilled at

Continue readingGerman Immigration and New York’s Garment Industry

Main, Nonfiction

The Stranger in the Box

September 9, 2018October 29, 2018 Rebecca Shaw

Sara Etgen-Baker is digging through her grandmother’s attic one day and comes across a box of old photographs of ancestors she’s never met. She learns about their past, their family, and their adventure that led her family to travel from Germany to America. … Continue readingThe Stranger in the Box

Archived, Nonfiction

The Velvet Album

August 3, 2018April 12, 2019 Rebecca Shaw

Barbara Krasner explores an album left behind by her deceased grandmother, whom she has never met. … Continue readingThe Velvet Album

Archived, Nonfiction

Opening a Closed Book

May 1, 2018December 31, 2018 Mel Johnson

A small box of family treasures given to Gayla Mills by her father sparks a journey through the generations. … Continue readingOpening a Closed Book

Archived, Art & Photography, Nonfiction

Let Evening Blush to Own a Star

February 12, 2018October 16, 2018 Victoria Carvalho

By using form, poetry, and visuals, Joyce Munro’s story moves beyond fact and prompts readers to consider a sculpture and its owner in deeper ways. … Continue readingLet Evening Blush to Own a Star