Literal Latte http://www.literal-latte.com A Journal of Poetry, Prose and Art Sun, 03 Nov 2019 22:50:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Sean Qualls http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/sean-qualls/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/sean-qualls/#respond Sat, 10 Nov 2018 00:49:22 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4476 null, Literal Latte null.

Sean Qualls' books and illustrations often explore history and non-fiction subjects. His fine art focuses on race and identity, and the intersection of history and mythology, ultimately examining how we create our own identities or allow them to be scripted to for us. Together his paintings and illustrations reveal simultaneously unique and universal moments that reveal the human spirit.

Sean's most recent books include Why Am I Me?, The Case for Loving and Two Friends, all of which he illustrated with his wife, illustrator/author Selina Alko. He has also illustrated Emmanuel's Dream (Schneider Award recipient) written by Laurie Ann Thompson, Giant Steps to Change the World written by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee and Before John Was a Jazz Giant (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor) written by Carole Boston Weatherford.

]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/sean-qualls/feed/ 0 Broken Bones and Pygmy Donkeys http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/broken-bones-and-pygmy-donkeys/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/broken-bones-and-pygmy-donkeys/#comments Sat, 10 Nov 2018 00:15:12 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4333 First Prize, 2017 Literal Latte Essay Award. By June, the weather is already so sweltering, the very concept of summer feels oppressive. As I park beneath a giant walnut tree at Abington Friends School and walk Gus and Grace across the parking lot for the last time as second graders, the mixture of sadness and happiness that accompanies every end and beginning of the school year as a parent engulfs me. I breathe in the soupy air and count. Based on the estimated start date Detective Brody gave me, I will start the Philadelphia Police Academy in ten weeks....]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/broken-bones-and-pygmy-donkeys/feed/ 1 Still Life With Fruit, Froth, & Kinesis http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/still-life-with-fruit-froth-kinesis/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/still-life-with-fruit-froth-kinesis/#respond Fri, 09 Nov 2018 23:27:52 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4493 null, 2018 Literal Latte Food Verse Contest. On a rosewood dining room table overflowing a lead-crystal bowl: apple kiwi lemon guava cantaloupe sloped over grapefruit pissing off peach & pear papaya breadfruit.... ]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/still-life-with-fruit-froth-kinesis/feed/ 0 Write What You Know http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/write-what-you-know/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/write-what-you-know/#respond Fri, 09 Nov 2018 23:02:02 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4343 Second Prize, 2017 Literal Latte Essay Award. "Write about what you know," my journalism teacher, Mrs. Orsini admonished. What did she mean by that? It was rather like being told, "Work for a living!" At fourteen such exhortations were meaningless. I stared, both fascinated and repelled, at Mrs. Orsini's long painted toenails. She was married to a podiatrist, she had told us girls. Why would anyone choose that field? What induced her to marry such a man?]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/write-what-you-know/feed/ 0 The Enormous Typewriter http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/the-enormous-typewriter/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/the-enormous-typewriter/#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2018 22:24:00 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4308 Second Prize, 2018 Literal Latte Fiction Award. At five a.m. they heard a crash like a house had fallen from the sky, so Marty told Maria, "We’re fine, everything’s fine." He fought to untangle his feet and find the floor and get down the hall to their five year-old son...]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/the-enormous-typewriter/feed/ 1 The Warehouse http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/the-warehouse/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/the-warehouse/#respond Wed, 07 Nov 2018 19:52:17 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4347 Second Prize, 2018 Literal Latte Fiction Award. Balanced half on a battered metal rung, half on the front of the stone-faced building, the young man stretched to touch the letters of the sign, and then down behind them. He felt for wires and fittings that once supplied the electricity, making them glow, a beacon in the dark, inviting the neighborhood to watch stories by the light of their artificial fires. "Blockbuster," it still spelled, in dull yellow and faded blue...]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/the-warehouse/feed/ 0 Cherry http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/cherry/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/cherry/#comments Wed, 07 Nov 2018 19:43:38 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4313 First Prize, 2018 Literal Latte Fiction Award. Fifty-year-olds don’t climb trees. They don’t trespass either, although it was a question whether I was actually trespassing. Hadn’t I gone to school here? Wasn’t this my church once, back when I believed in churches? I grasped the forked branch above me and used it to drag myself a few more inches along the rough limb I was straddling. A little closer to the sky. A little closer to the past....]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/cherry/feed/ 2 Wild Horses http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/wild-horses/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/wild-horses/#comments Tue, 06 Nov 2018 23:55:54 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4350 Third Prize, 2018 Literal Latte Fiction Award. That winter, on our island, a flu arrived by fishing trawler; it was carried up the stairs of a cottage not far from our own on the hands of a visiting uncle, and soon all the Tillett daughters caught it: their faces flushed with fever, their lungs filling with fluid....]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/wild-horses/feed/ 2 Love Trouble http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/love-trouble/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/love-trouble/#comments Tue, 06 Nov 2018 23:48:44 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4356 null, Literal Latte null. "I'm a nightmare in bed," I told the stranger staring at my cleavage. He leaned close, tilting the barstool....]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/love-trouble/feed/ 5 Saying Cheese http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/saying-cheese/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/saying-cheese/#respond Mon, 05 Nov 2018 20:58:11 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4336 null, 2018 Literal Latte Food Verse Contest. Inside the monstrous apple assigned to me a house floats in the flesh and I, Anonymouse climb the walls and scribble CHEESE...]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/saying-cheese/feed/ 0 Mandorla http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/mandorla/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/mandorla/#respond Mon, 05 Nov 2018 20:56:29 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4328 null, 2018 Literal Latte Short Short Contest. No one talked about the difficulty of the first transition because no one could talk at that time. We weren't even apes. Barely sentient beings. Un-cognizant of our own evolution happening. A leaf pushed in the wind. Twigs swept on the stream. We simply became, suddenly. This time, the second time....]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/mandorla/feed/ 0 Losing My Mind and Getting a New One http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/losing-my-mind-and-getting-a-new-one/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/losing-my-mind-and-getting-a-new-one/#comments Sat, 03 Nov 2018 23:28:09 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4322 Third Prize, 2017 Literal Latte Essay Award. I’m not an expert on brain injury. I am a person who has one. It was an accident — the accident of a drunk with a truck. It was a Code 4 emergency, which means my life was threatened. Then it wasn’t my life. My head hit the headrest so hard it broke the seat. The good news was I survived. The bad news was brain damage....]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/losing-my-mind-and-getting-a-new-one/feed/ 1 NOTE: We are NOT currently taking submissions (except Fiction Awards until Jan 2020) http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/latte-not-currently-taking-submissions/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/latte-not-currently-taking-submissions/#comments Sat, 03 Nov 2018 20:29:06 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4513 null, Literal Latte null. Until further notice, we will NOT be taking any submissions (except for the current Fiction Awards contest until the January 2020 deadline). PLEASE READ FULL POST....]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2018/11/latte-not-currently-taking-submissions/feed/ 9 Nothing to Declare http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/nothing-to-declare/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/nothing-to-declare/#respond Fri, 29 Dec 2017 02:57:06 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4089 Second Prize, 2017 Literal Latte Fiction Award. The old farm pond lay just beyond the electric gate with its invisible eye and whispering hydraulics. "Stop," said Perry from the rear seat, "I need a moment here." [...]]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/nothing-to-declare/feed/ 0 Sicily: My Enigma http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/sicily-my-enigma/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/sicily-my-enigma/#comments Fri, 29 Dec 2017 02:07:45 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4069 null, Literal Latte null. I could begin this journey on black pavement of volcanic lava, destruction/construction as Sicilian metaphor embodied in a town whose name I don't recall. Or nearly knocked backwards by the sight of Greek temples shining in spring sun on a poppy-studded hillside...]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/sicily-my-enigma/feed/ 12 The Other Mutants http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-other-mutants/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-other-mutants/#respond Fri, 29 Dec 2017 01:59:00 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4086 null, Literal Latte null. The bottom of Jacinto's feet could suck up the carpet lint, hinting at a career in janitorial services, the promised spot at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters swapped for a space at Ignatius' Academy for the Otherwise Talented...]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-other-mutants/feed/ 0 The New Couple in 5A http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-new-couple-in-5a/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-new-couple-in-5a/#comments Fri, 29 Dec 2017 01:39:00 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4073 null, Literal Latte null. Every afternoon at 4:00, while Donald was still at work, I'd give up on my writing, walk to the living room, and wait for the music. Soon, behind the wall that divided our apartment from Apartment 5B, it began...]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-new-couple-in-5a/feed/ 19 Out of Order http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/out-of-order/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/out-of-order/#respond Fri, 29 Dec 2017 01:38:56 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4065 First Prize, 2017 Literal Latte Fiction Award. When Toby finished living his life for the second time, he was met with a blinding light. Had he known that this was the end, that he was waking now, reentering the world, he might have assumed the light was heaven, or death...]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/out-of-order/feed/ 0 The Dark http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-dark/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-dark/#respond Thu, 28 Dec 2017 20:26:03 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4029 Third Prize, 2017 Literal Latte Fiction Award. My brother slept with his backpack on. Every night, before he got in bed, he would follow my orders like a grunt at boot camp: pajamas on, teeth brushed, hair combed, face washed. I'd call him away from whatever he was reading (that year, it was always something about bugs; huge encyclopedic collections with pictures of larvae....]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-dark/feed/ 0 Karen Eve Friedland http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/karen-eve-friedland/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/karen-eve-friedland/#comments Thu, 28 Dec 2017 19:20:33 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4235 null, Literal Latte null.

An artist for more than 20 years, Friedland’s work has been shown extensively across the country and received awards in exhibits of: Hilton Head Art League, Northwest Watercolor Society, Pastel Society of America, Mississippi Watercolor Society, amongst others.

As a devoted transplant to Brooklyn, New York, she buries a Brooklyn Bridge symbol in each of her paintings. As a community activist, Friedland founded and led the Flatbush Artists and the Flatbush Artists Studio Tour. As a Teaching Artist, Friedland has taught art to mainstream and special needs children and adults for more than 12 years. She teaches creative workshops to adults in her home teaching studio, the Open Center and online. Friedland is a creativity coach and a Right Brain Business Plan® facilitator.

]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/karen-eve-friedland/feed/ 7 What My Mother Meant to Say That Night http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/what-my-mother-meant-to-say-that-night/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/what-my-mother-meant-to-say-that-night/#comments Tue, 26 Dec 2017 21:38:58 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4115 First Prize, 2017 Literal Latte Poetry Award. Because men do what they want to do, & the night just keeps skimming quarters from the till...]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/what-my-mother-meant-to-say-that-night/feed/ 2 Places We Visit Once, & Never Again http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/places-we-visit-once-never-again/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/places-we-visit-once-never-again/#respond Tue, 26 Dec 2017 21:31:00 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4110 First Prize, 2017 Literal Latte Poetry Award. Not the whole house, just the bed- room where a dead boy still has not quite died. Humming from posters...]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/places-we-visit-once-never-again/feed/ 0 Condolence http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/condolence/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/condolence/#comments Tue, 26 Dec 2017 21:25:00 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4095 null, 2017 Literal Latte Short Short Contest. The family of Jack Shane wishes to thank you for your kindness and sympathy at this difficult time.]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/condolence/feed/ 4 The Singing http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-singing/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-singing/#comments Fri, 22 Dec 2017 20:24:06 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4084 null, Literal Latte null. The cottage had been built by my great grandfather who sat alone, in the shade, dressed in work boots and overalls...]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/the-singing/feed/ 1 Francis Glessner Lee http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/francis-glessner-lee/ http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/francis-glessner-lee/#respond Fri, 22 Dec 2017 20:21:05 +0000 http://www.literal-latte.com/?p=4080 null, Literal Latte null. She loved miniatures: made tiny replicas of rooms that captured her imagination, recreated the stiff chairs, the oil paintings of angels, a pair of wire-rimmed glasses on a bedside table....]]> http://www.literal-latte.com/2017/12/francis-glessner-lee/feed/ 0