We are pleased to announce the results of the Ninth Letter Literary Awards for 2026. The winners in each genre will be published in our Fall/Winter 2026-27 print issue and on our website. Honorable mentions will be published on our website. Online publication will be concurrent with the release of the print issue. Poetry Winner: Meg Day […]
Katie Jean Moulton The Scrambler I find myself stuck at the top of the Ferris wheel with my mother and her first boyfriend. I anticipated the Ferris wheel. Said, You and J.K. go and I’ll stand below and take your picture. But my mother scrunched up her face into a pout and now we are […]
Andy Hobin Your Dad Communes with God’s Creatures: Five Episodes I. Your Dad at Rest Your dad is sleeping. In his mind’s eye it is a red dusk in a valley, and he sees roasting spits. Lots of them. Great hogs are skewered mouth-to-anus and rotating lazily over abundant beds of glowing coals, their flesh […]
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Matthew Burnside Cosmonauts/Nots/Knots Tonight H is building tiny antennas for a baby spacesuit. Never seen antennas on a spacesuit before, I tease her. Sprawled on the kitchen floor she smiles, bending back a pipe cleaner. Totally antennas on a spacesuit, she says. SPOILER: The baby has been dead two years now. The project to convert […]
M. Thompson Illustration of a Stove The stove is off. I know the stove is off because burner one is off klik, burner two is off klik, burner three is off klik, burner four is off klik. And so the stove is off. So I can rest easy. Today, there’s no need to worry. When, just yesterday, I passed […]
Laura Usselman How to Replace Sex with Cooking and Columbo Begin by poring through your cookbooks, marking recipes you’ve never made before, ones that take a lot of chopping and sautéing and have long cooking times. Soups are best. Make a list more than a page long and go to the store late at night, […]
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Heath Wilcock Lloyd and Joy: A Scientist’s Explanation Lloyd and Joy didn’t have the common problems of their counterparts in Neanderthal Companionship Counseling, such as: miscommunication, overly aggressive behavior, and depression due to questioning the purpose of existence. Lloyd and Joy’s problem was their difference in size. The average male and female Neanderthals were about […]
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Beatrice Mora Fifty Shades of Grey We runquietly. I raise my eyebrowsout loud.He tilts into astrange deep.I tear awayfingers forward.He soundsout the rain. Webet onevery narrow threat. Weshake grace to thesnap. Beatrice Adela Mora graduated from Sarah Lawrence this winter with a BA in Liberal Arts. Originally from Orange County, California, she studied Theater, Poetry, […]
Christine Stroud You Called the Night It Snowed in April You called the night it snowed in April.I squeezed out of the dinner party,slumped behind the wheelof Molly’s car and listened. Harshly, you squeezed the dinner partyfrom my mind. Delicate white flakes fellon Molly’s car and glistened. Harshly,the wind blew the idea of warmth and […]
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Ron Salutsky In Praise of Kool Filter Kings If the sea had skinyou could roll it up over Florida like a condom, prevent what you onlyin the comfort of others’ mishaps call the spread of Florida. And what’s so wrongwith Florida, then? There’s none more existential crisis than 6:30 pm in Florida,and you need not […]
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