Spring 2025 Featured "Angus Thickburger: Ghost Detective" by Tanner Smith I breathe in the dry Monday air in my office, fingertips rattlin’ on the cold desk. That’s the way it’s been, long days bleedin’ into one another. Solvin’ the crimes I do ain’t for the faint of heart, ‘specially when your boss has it out for you
Spring 2025 Featured "Visions of Vocation" by Dr. Joe Milan “Once Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn’t know he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly, he woke up, and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuang Zhou. But he didn’t know if he
Spring 2025 Featured "Sicilia" by Hans R. Jeppson (1st place Top of Iowa 9th/10th grade -- Prose) The party set out in the morning from their little checkpoint. They traveled along the river through the semi-arid landscape. They passed in between large towering mountains and entered a sparse pine forest valley. Ida guided them to the base of a mountain, using switchbacks to rise above the ground,
Archived Issue From the 1995 edition of The Muse: Coming of Age I heard a child ask his father, “Daddy, what is true?” “My son,” the father answered, “I can certainly tell you. I know all the rules of life. In fact, a few I’ve made my own. All the limits are defined. All the variables are known. Yes, there are
Archived Issue From the 1996 edition of The Muse: Excerpts from a journal Wednesday, January 17, 1996 I suddenly feel uninspired. We had chapel tonight and I really enjoyed myself. I just got that feeling. It’s hard to describe, and unfortunately, it never seems to last long in me. A feeling of wholeness and purpose fills me. I know I can do
Fall 2024 From The 2016 Edition of The Waldorf Literary Review: Cavity The puppy was dead. She just knew he couldn’t be resting. Cati had been sitting in the dentist chair staring out the window. The window was an attempt to provide a source of distraction from the buzz of the drills, but Cati wasn’t subdued by the view of
Prose Uneven by Tanner Smith It was just getting dark when I grabbed a bottle of Guinness from the fridge in the garage. I’d been staring at a blank Word document for almost an hour and it only seemed to be getting warmer in my bedroom. When I returned with the beer, I brushed
