Light Show

by Jane Yolen

Hollywood blockbusters cannot duplicate this show, this shower of the stars, as the Perseids scatter across the sky. It’s a monsoon of light in the middle of the night.

We lie on a blanket and watch for an hour, though we sometimes stood in the driveway, crick-necked, the children cranky, up from their beds, sleep still in their eyes.

“See that…and that…and that.”

But it was all too repetitive for them and we had to haul them back upstairs, the complaints like shadows, following.

I prefer lying here, on the blanket, with just you, too old for the children, too young yet for the grands. And the shower of stars above just for us.

Just for us.

Jane Yolen, often called “the Hans Christian Andersen of America,” is the author of over 300 books, ranging from picture books through middle grade fiction, poetry collections, nonfiction, and up to novels and story collections for young adults and adults. She has won an assortment of awards, including two Nebulas, a World Fantasy Award, the Caldecott, two Christopher Medals, a nomination for the National Book Award, and the Jewish Book Award, among others. Her website is at: www.janeyolen.com.
.

What is it about these ‘miniature forms’ that attracts your continued interest and attention? At heart I am a lapidary, loving the small bejeweled forms: poetry, prose poems, picture books, short fiction. I have been so since I was a child. Each word must be just so. Novels, by their rambling nature, make me nervous. I always lose whole paragraphs, even chapters. Get nose bleeds. Fall off cliffs. Not so with the small pieces. There I can work and rework every last little bit.

Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.

Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.

Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.

Submissions

Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again September 15, 2025. Submit here.

Upcoming

05/04 • Leath Tonino
05/11 • Chris Pellizzari
05/18 • Chris Clemens
05/25 • Clayton Eccard
06/01 • TBD
06/08 • TBD
06/15 • TBD
06/22 • TBD
06/29 • TBD
07/06 • TBD
07/13 • TBD
07/20 • TBD
07/27 • TBD
08/03 • TBD
08/10 • TBD
08/17 • TBD
08/24 • TBD
08/31 • TBD
09/07 • TBD
09/14 • TBD
09/21 • TBD