Read the winning piece of our 2025 Nonfiction Contest “Through the Mirror” by Jessie Cato selected by Lucy Ives.

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Paul Smyth

Fiction

Summer 1985

A Death in Souvála

By Paul Smyth

Brother Yíanni knew that, for him, prayer was the most holy manifestation of The Spirit possible on earth. When he prayed the Hours, when he read Scripture and meditated upon […]

A Poem

Autumn 1983

Aubade

By Paul Smyth

As hushed as nuns pressing God to their lips, As deliberately as when great musics start, The dawn extends itself, a rose light slips Through mists that hold familiar forms […]

Poetry

Autumn 1981

Beginner’s Guide

By Paul Smyth

Nature The cosmos is a millpond. Pitch  A pebble in, disturb That mirror-surface over which  You lean: now noun and verb Shiver to life, lean nearer, find  Images there, such […]