A Literary Magazine Sponsored by The University of Maine at Farmington
The River is a representation of the Sandy River itself, which runs alongside the university and what inspired the name of the journal. It is a constantly flowing, ebbing and surging, body of content filled with contemporary work. To submit to The River please visit our Submissions page to the left or e mail TheRiverEditors@gmail.com directly.
By Visio Roughton There are very few places on our planet today that have been untouched by the general human population, and this reality has been true for many years. … Continue Reading What an Island Can Teach About Life – The Fascinating Case of Surtsey Island
By Chris Dungey Well, of course you’d want to place heated objects— stones, angle-irons fresh off the coals, or hot water bottles beneath the sheets, if you’re going to leave … Continue Reading Closed Windows
By John Nizalowski Pecos Pueblo Rattlesnake There it lay— wary, yet quiescent. People gathered round to view the splendid reptile. One tourist in shorts and a Cape May t-shirt stepped … Continue Reading “Pecos Pueblo Rattlesnake”, “Cemetery Soul”, “The Aged Gods”, “Eternity”, and “Saturday Afternoon”
By John Grey Where I’ve Been I was in a diner and morning clientele were a cross-section of inner city lowlifes. The waitress’s name was Sally and she spilled coffee … Continue Reading “Where I’ve Been”, “The Coal Miner” and “Prism”
By River Potter A woman by the name of Elizabeth Wurtzel once said, “A human being can survive almost anything as long as she sees the end in sight But … Continue Reading Depression, a Poem
By Mark Crimmins There was an intermittent thunderstorm, but we decided to run through the rain anyway. We ran up the Avenue of the Americas, crossed Fifty-Ninth, and entered the … Continue Reading Angels on Seventh Avenue
By Simon Bittersea The day I lost my job, you lost your wedding ring. I tried not to see it as a sign. The job, I hated. So even though … Continue Reading Lost Jobs, Lost Rings
By E.P. Lande John invited me to visit him at his cottage on the Maine coast. We hadn’t seen one another in over 70 years, since we spent summers together … Continue Reading Gluttony
By Daniel Speechly For all their smarts, the teachers never once considered that ignorance could be wielded like a closed fist or a bamboo pole. They surely underestimated the power … Continue Reading The End of Instruction
By Diane Webster WITHOUT THEM The forest retreats from the dead tree’s trunk as it lies in state among undergrowth worming its way into bleached cracks splitting winter into spring … Continue Reading “Without Them”, “Thin Thoughts”, “In the Closet”, “Between Signs”, and “Shadows Pretend”
By Michele Worthington Apollo brings a camera to the moon Right there right there is mother lazuline! blue jewel floating bright in black abyss round Eden twinned in swirling nothingness … Continue Reading “Apollo brings a camera to the moon” and “Stethoscope”
By Mark Belair MILL HOUSING His was a broken-down rental where our street’s dead end met the mill’s chain-link fence, a house notorious for its sequence of broken-down tenants. Mine … Continue Reading “MILL HOUSING” and “ROADSIDE POND”
By Zac Holt To Eurydice I’m going to miss you when I am no longer yours. Not that I was ever yours to begin with, but I’ve dreamt of you … Continue Reading To Eurydice
By Lynn Wolfe happiness is fickle just yesterday i was laughing, dancing in the sun, feeling excited about the future. i didn’t think about you. now today, that happiness has … Continue Reading “Happiness is fickle” and “Dear Woman”
By Marc Swan Muzzle Velocity Some would say chipping away but leveling with a blow torch is closer to the truth Just over a month and the world we once … Continue Reading “Muzzle Velocity”, “In the year before the last year” and “Any street”
By Visio Roughton London is rich in history, having existed from the bronze age until today. Thus, such a city has had its fair share of urban disasters; fires, blizzards, … Continue Reading The Summer That Inspired Modern Sanitary Systems – London’s ‘Great Stink’ of 1858