Looking back on it now, I think the event that inspired me the most was my crucifixion. From an early age, I was taught to comport myself modestly; after all, I come from humble origins,…
Posts Published by Guest Contributor
For over sixty years, Portland Review has been supported by contributions from writers, editors, readers, and advocates of the literary arts. The journal is produced by the graduate students in the English Department at Portland State University, which is a nonprofit public institute.
Summer Help by Randy Simons
were summer help. Temps. Red hats. High school heroes bound for college. They trained us to pull and stack lumber. 2×4’s and 2×6’s from the green chain. Rough cut. Heavy. Tools of our trade were…
Nobody Blessed the Concrete City by Adam Crittenden
The only time I visited Times Square a stranger with a limp brushed my arm and I can best describe the touch as sideways—a disorienting touch that vibrated like a distant gunshot—and it revealed one…
You Become a Cartoon Fox by Doug Cornett
The moment you become a cartoon fox, you feel a warm fluidity to your bones. You look down at yourself and discover you are wearing a scarlet vest and orange pantaloons, bouncing through some neon…
Wood Duck by Ross McMeekin
The rest are mallards, but then there’s this other one. You’ve never heard your boyfriend use the word plumage before, never iridescent. You wonder how many other words he keeps hidden, waiting for an object…