Lunch Ticket
  • Current Issue
  • Archive
    • Issues Archive
      • Issue 23: Summer/Fall 2023
      • Issue 22: Winter/Spring 2023
      • Issue 21: Summer/Fall 2022
      • Issue 20: Winter/Spring 2022
      • Issue 19: Summer/Fall 2021
      • Issue 18: Winter/Spring 2021
      • Issue 17: Summer/Fall 2020
      • Issue 16: Winter/Spring 2020
      • Issue 15: Summer/Fall 2019
      • Issue 14: Winter/Spring 2019
      • Issue 13: Summer/Fall 2018
      • Issue 12: Winter/Spring 2018
      • Issue 11: Summer/Fall 2017
      • Issue 10: Winter/Spring 2017
      • Issue 9: Summer/Fall 2016
      • Issue 8: Winter/Spring 2016
      • Issue 7: Summer/Fall 2015
      • Issue 6: Winter/Spring 2015
      • Issue 5: Summer/Fall 2014
      • Issue 4: Winter/Spring 2014
      • Issue 3: Summer/Fall 2013
      • Issue 2: Winter/Spring 2013
      • Issue 1: Spring 2012
    • Genre Archive
      • Creative Nonfiction
      • Essays
      • Fiction
      • Flash Prose
      • Interviews
      • Lunch Specials
      • Poetry
      • Translation
      • Visual Art
      • Writing for Young People
  • About
    • Mission Statement
    • Lunch Ticket Staff
      • Issue 23: Summer/Fall 2023
      • Issue 22: Winter/Spring 2023
      • Issue 21: Summer/Fall 2022
      • Issue 20: Winter/Spring 2022
      • Issue 19: Summer/Fall 2021
      • Issue 18: Winter/Spring 2021
      • Issue 17: Summer/Fall 2020
      • Issue 16: Winter/Spring 2020
      • Issue 15: Summer/Fall 2019
      • Issue 14: Winter/Spring 2019
      • Issue 13: Summer/Fall 2018
      • Issue 12: Winter/Spring 2018
      • Issue 11: Summer/Fall 2017
      • Issue 10: Winter/Spring 2017
      • Issue 9: Summer/Fall 2016
      • Issue 8: Winter/Spring 2016
      • Issue 7: Summer/Fall 2015
      • Issue 6: Winter/Spring 2015
      • Issue 5: Summer/Fall 2014
      • Issue 4: Winter/Spring 2014
      • Issue 3: Summer/Fall 2013
      • Issue 2: Winter/Spring 2013
      • Issue 1: Spring 2012
    • Achievements
    • Community
    • Contact
  • Weekly Content
    • Friday Lunch Blog
    • Midnight Snack
    • Amuse-Bouche
    • School Lunch
  • Contests
    • Diana Woods Award in CNF
      • Issue 23: Summer/Fall 2023
      • Issue 22: Winter/Spring 2023
      • Issue 21: Summer/Fall 2022
      • Issue 20: Winter/Spring 2022
      • Issue 19: Summer/Fall 2021
      • Issue 18: Winter/Spring 2021
      • Issue 17: Summer/Fall 2020
      • Issue 16: Winter/Spring 2020
      • Issue 15: Summer/Fall 2019
      • Issue 14: Winter/Spring 2019
      • Issue 13: Summer/Fall 2018
      • Issue 12: Winter/Spring 2018
      • Issue 11: Summer/Fall 2017
      • Issue 10: Winter/Spring 2017
      • Issue 9: Summer/Fall 2016
      • Issue 8: Winter/Spring 2016
      • Issue 7: Summer/Fall 2015
      • Issue 6: Winter/Spring 2015
      • Issue 5: Summer/Fall 2014
      • Issue 4: Winter/Spring 2014
      • Issue 3: Summer/Fall 2013
    • Gabo Prize in Translation
      • Issue 23: Summer/Fall 2023
      • Issue 22: Winter/Spring 2023
      • Issue 21: Summer/Fall 2022
      • Issue 20: Winter/Spring 2022
      • Issue 19: Summer/Fall 2021
      • Issue 18: Winter/Spring 2021
      • Issue 17: Summer/Fall 2020
      • Issue 16: Winter/Spring 2020
      • Issue 15: Summer/Fall 2019
      • Issue 14: Winter/Spring 2019
      • Issue 13: Summer/Fall 2018
      • Issue 12: Winter/Spring 2018
      • Issue 11: Summer/Fall 2017
      • Issue 10: Winter/Spring 2017
      • Issue 9: Summer/Fall 2016
      • Issue 8: Winter/Spring 2016
      • Issue 7: Summer/Fall 2015
      • Issue 6: Winter/Spring 2015
    • Twitter Poetry Contest
      • 2021 Winners
      • 2020 Winners
      • 2019 Winners
  • Submissions
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Out of Houston

May 22, 2017/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2017 / by Cathleen Calbert

When I think back to that bar in Houston, the one that offered us mahogany and beveled glass and a brief reprieve from our hot, damp lives, I can still see Lynda and me: my blue-jean jacket, her skeleton earrings. We’ve swiveled onto our stools, and she’s paid for our drinks. She is laughing, leaning […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Korilynn Kessler https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Korilynn Kessler2017-05-22 09:16:192017-12-07 08:43:40Out of Houston

Mapping Coordinates of Poor, Queer, and Feminine in the High Desert Air

May 21, 2017/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2017 / by Sossity Chiricuzio

Every bit of pride her life doesn’t allow for her own sturdy beauty is poured into that chestnut coat, that black horsehair. One afternoon just three days before show-time, her father saunters into the house, swinging a large, rusty pair of shears. “Spring haircut…” he drawls, and she’s already out the door, running for the stable. …

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Vicki Miller https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Vicki Miller2017-05-21 11:01:432017-12-07 08:43:40Mapping Coordinates of Poor, Queer, and Feminine in the High Desert Air

The Day We Buried My Father

May 20, 2017/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2017 / by Guy Choate

On the day of my father’s funeral, I wake up in a twin bed at his house. Liz is still asleep in the identical twin bed across the room. Dad and Penny bought these beds for Caroline and Cate, my nieces, but as usual, we make accommodations that negate the previous accommodations we’ve made for […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Avril Stewart https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Avril Stewart2017-05-20 18:39:352017-12-07 08:43:40The Day We Buried My Father

Matches

May 16, 2017/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2017 / by Kristine Langley Mahler

Green signs loom over I-80, beckoning us towards Omaha; it’s difficult not to exit downtown to the Courtyard Marriott, tell them we want our old room so we could pretend we’re still new at this. I could still get butterflies when he emerges from the bathroom in a shirt and tie, flash-forwarding to the man […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Korilynn Kessler https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Korilynn Kessler2017-05-16 09:18:522023-08-11 10:31:28Matches

If Memory

May 15, 2017/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2017 / by Carol D. Marsh

If memory is talisman, this I hold in my palm: my father strides, back straight and face serious, to the edge of the pool. It’s a late summer day. Children of other families splash and shout, a cooling breeze chases the sun. My father is sturdy, not fat and not thin, handsome with wavy dark […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Raj Persad https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Raj Persad2017-05-15 18:31:042023-08-11 10:31:39If Memory

Imposter

May 13, 2017/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2017 / by Bree A. Rolfe

Today: “Ms. Rolfe, are you dying?” This isn’t the first time a student has asked me this after I had a coughing fit in class. In fact, I get asked this all the time. Too often. And I’m used to it. But today, I am hanging on by a thread. I have trouble walking up […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Avril Stewart https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Avril Stewart2017-05-13 18:53:192023-08-11 10:32:49Imposter

Flash Point

May 12, 2017/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2017 / by Lauren Sarazen

My best friend is buying a house in Upstate New York with her boyfriend. A family friend expects her first child in eight days. I’m twenty-two, and I have never felt more alone. I. “For this was the round of love: fear which leads on desire, tenderness and fury, and that brutal anguish which triumphantly […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Avril Stewart https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Avril Stewart2017-05-12 18:47:472023-08-11 10:33:03Flash Point

Faith Is What You Have: Reading Photographs with Flannery O’Connor

May 11, 2017/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2017 / by Engram Wilkinson

On the day of my great-aunt Era Mae and great-uncle Alvin’s fiftieth wedding anniversary, I wore my stepfather’s striped, navy tie and—after stopping for breakfast on the drive through North Alabama—a small grease stain on my khaki pants. Over the air conditioner, my grandmother told me I should’ve put a napkin on my lap first. […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Douglas Menagh https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Douglas Menagh2017-05-11 09:28:042023-08-11 10:33:20Faith Is What You Have: Reading Photographs with Flannery O’Connor

Big Ball of String Theory

May 10, 2017/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2017 / by Linnea Wortham Harper

Yoo-hoo! I’m back here, in the bedroom, in the bed. I’m seventeen, I’m twenty-two, I’m thirty-seven, fifty. I dress in white and lie here. Let’s just say it’s mono, or Some Disease, the lazies, or the dreads. Let’s just say I never learned to spell élan vitale right. Let’s just say I should be dead. […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Korilynn Kessler https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Korilynn Kessler2017-05-10 09:22:162023-08-11 10:35:11Big Ball of String Theory

Progress Notes

November 25, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2017 / by Jennifer Anderson

The first time I visit her, she lies in bed at the far end of the hall where residents with the worst kinds of dementia are placed, where the man in room 308 rigidly slumps in a geri-chair, eyes and mouth open wide as if in a trance, where the wild-haired woman in room 309 […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Zoe Siegal https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Zoe Siegal2016-11-25 09:47:242017-12-07 08:43:56Progress Notes

Every Man a Fortress

November 24, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2017 / by Jason Arment

We traded snippets about ourselves when the chaos allowed and found we’d both joined the Corps to make something of ourselves, serve our country, and shoot things—Schnieder wanted to be a Rifleman while I was already slated to be a Machine Gunner. Before enlisting, Schnieder had been a degenerate living in his parents’ basement. I’d […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Jason Arment https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Jason Arment2016-11-24 16:28:442017-12-07 08:43:57Every Man a Fortress

Somebody. Still.

November 23, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2017 / by Alexandra Dane

I had wanted to be something in the world once. A teaching degree, a Masters degree, and several academic honors hang framed on my study wall. I might have had any number of careers but at twenty-five I made a choice and let the world go on without me: Bedside for my mother’s cancer right […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Zoe Siegal https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Zoe Siegal2016-11-23 13:07:142023-08-11 10:36:59Somebody. Still.

Hollow

November 22, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2017 / by Carmella de los Angeles Guiol

I dig my fingers into the pockets of my jacket and tilt my face towards the sun. The sharp wind of fall stings my cheeks. I want to drink in the spaciousness of this place, disappear into the rust red canyon, become the shadows dancing on painted rock. Behind me, there are voices belonging to […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Zoe Siegal https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Zoe Siegal2016-11-22 13:05:182023-08-11 10:37:21Hollow

Chassis

November 21, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2017 / by T. Lucas Earle

I knew I was in trouble when the Director asked me to cock my head to the right. “I can’t cock my head to the right. Or the left.” “Just like this.” He cocks his head to the right. But, see, he’s not wearing a fiberglass suit of armor with a helmet attached to the […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Zoe Siegal https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Zoe Siegal2016-11-21 09:50:352016-11-26 21:04:26Chassis

Community

November 20, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2017 / by Bernard Grant

A few weeks before my brain broke, as I waited in a grocery store coffee line, an elderly man in front of me dropped his cane. I focused on it. The cane’s clatter, the man’s shaky stoop, careful and slow as he picked it up. How sad, I thought, the need to link one hand […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Shaneka Cook https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Shaneka Cook2016-11-20 12:16:442016-12-05 08:33:40Community

Nipple Gazing

November 19, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2017 / by L.L. Madrid

Nineties Girlhood No one ever praised me for being smart, only for being good. Good meant pretty and quiet, pressed like a flower in the middle of a bell curve. The first time I thought about becoming an adult had nothing to do with ambition but with a yearning to be beautiful. Baywatch was playing […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Shaneka Cook https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Shaneka Cook2016-11-19 09:51:382023-08-11 10:38:00Nipple Gazing

Falling—A Mothering (Or, a Tale of Postpartum Depression)

November 16, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2017 / by Courtney E. Morgan

Leaves fluttering down on the grave in the fall, and her ashes. And I’m lying, it wasn’t fall, it was February. But the leaves were real. And it felt like she was supposed to die in the fall. Maybe I read that in a book, saw it in a movie. A girl who goes on […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Avril Stewart https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Avril Stewart2016-11-16 09:52:482023-08-11 10:38:27Falling—A Mothering (Or, a Tale of Postpartum Depression)

When a Neighbor Dies

November 15, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2017 / by Milena Nigam

When I get home from my morning run, there are two police officers hanging around my driveway. They look like babies, plump skin and short bangs under their caps. Barely in their twenties. They stand under our ancient weeping cherry tree, and scant snowflakes flutter down between the tired skeleton branches. It’s not cold enough […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Zoe Siegal https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Zoe Siegal2016-11-15 13:05:582023-08-11 10:38:46When a Neighbor Dies

Are We There Yet?

November 13, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2017 / by Amber Wong

I imagine my father as a small boy, sitting on stone steps. Chin in hand, he glares at the dry towel and swim trunks he’s thrown beside him. The façade of the Hayward Plunge, a public swimming pool near his Oakland, California home, stands in harsh rebuke. How dare you, it seems to say, Chinese […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Zoe Siegal https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Zoe Siegal2016-11-13 09:48:412023-08-11 10:39:12Are We There Yet?

Elvis Has Left the Building

May 7, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2016 / by Eric Day

The second I escaped high school, I went to work at my father’s full-line music store in the little corner hovel called the M.I. department, which stood for Musical Instruments. There wasn’t much to do but restock the clarinet reeds and trombone grease, make sure the ¼-size violins had bows in their cases, and dust […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Sherrye Henry https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Sherrye Henry2016-05-07 17:15:512016-06-04 17:03:54Elvis Has Left the Building

Down in the River to Pray

May 4, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2016 / by Lois Ruskai Melina

This is what I knew: My nephew Benji graduated from drama school. When he crossed the stage to accept his diploma, he wore a sultry Lauren Bacall wig and a cream-colored satin evening gown with padded shoulders. His make-up was perfect, his lips the color of blood and desire. My mother told me he looked […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Sherrye Henry https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Sherrye Henry2016-05-04 17:08:342023-08-11 10:41:30Down in the River to Pray

The Half-Buttoned Effect

May 3, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2016 / by Saeide Mirzaei

I want to reach out and slide the button back in the buttonhole. She’s standing right in front of me, wearing a light green dress with buttons on the back. A row of buttons, like a dotted line drawn from her nape to a random point halfway down her spine. I count the buttons: one, […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Sherrye Henry https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Sherrye Henry2016-05-03 17:09:162023-08-11 10:41:42The Half-Buttoned Effect

Nothing Beats a Beergut Breakfast

May 2, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2016 / by Genevieve Morck

After I pass through security, I’ll have left them. Beergut, Special Son, and I hang out in a loose triangle several feet away from the glass doors. Nothing left to say or do, the time of my flight to Seoul heavy and ticking. I avoid Beergut’s icy gaze, look to metal crossbeams. The airport houses […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Sherrye Henry https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Sherrye Henry2016-05-02 16:03:482023-08-11 10:41:59Nothing Beats a Beergut Breakfast

Home is Home

April 30, 2016/in CNF, CNF, Summer-Fall 2016 / by Suzanne Ushie

The car goes around a bend. The windows are up, the air cool, and we are hemmed in from every angle by the afternoon sun. In the back seat, my mother clasps my palm, as though to assure herself that I am really here. We ease onto IBB Way. On either side, the town lies […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Sherrye Henry https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Sherrye Henry2016-04-30 17:07:372023-08-11 10:42:18Home is Home

A Few More Miles

December 6, 2015/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2016 / by Meghan Florian

It never gets easier, you just go faster. —Greg LeMond After my father’s stroke, after months of rehab, after coming to terms with the fact that the blind spot on his right side—his lost peripheral vision—was the new normal, his doctor told him he couldn’t ride his bicycle. Last fall he had aortic valve replacement […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Lyndsay Hall https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Lyndsay Hall2015-12-06 09:07:242019-08-11 09:56:43A Few More Miles

Party of One

December 5, 2015/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2016 / by Tracy Harris

“Wo shi yi ge ren.” Chinese for I am alone. Party of one. In English the phrase sounds celebratory: you’re alone, but hey, it’s still a party. Chinese lacks that aura of metaphorical festivity. You just count. One. I contemplate counting as I report my solitary number to the hostess at a restaurant in Suzhou, […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Lyndsay Hall https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Lyndsay Hall2015-12-05 12:16:572019-08-11 16:03:35Party of One

Counter Intuitive

December 4, 2015/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2016 / by Walker Harrison

The cop that wrote me up for trying to use a fake ID at an Ocean City bar was wearing yellow-striped shorts, an embarrassing reality that defused any grand aspirations of mine to spin the tale into one of proud delinquency. Where that cop is today, I do not know, and he does not know […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Lyndsay Hall https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Lyndsay Hall2015-12-04 08:07:522019-08-11 10:46:54Counter Intuitive

Preparing a Place

December 3, 2015/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2016 / by Robert Knox

I am looking for someone. On the subway. At the hospital. Walking the sticky streets of the in-town neighborhood where I live in the shadowy, noirish, lost-dog summer nights. It takes me a long time to realize what I am supposed to be doing. Two years, maybe. In my self-involved twenty-something way, I consider two […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Lyndsay Hall https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Lyndsay Hall2015-12-03 10:11:162023-08-11 10:44:52Preparing a Place

I’ve Never Touched One

December 1, 2015/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2016 / by Anne McGrath

The year was 1993 and I was eight months pregnant and trapped in an elevator with an unstable guy who was rumored to have murdered his wife. I wanted to get out, but thought it would be rude, since I’d already told him I was going to the top floor for something to eat. Mr. […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Lyndsay Hall https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Lyndsay Hall2015-12-01 11:43:082019-08-11 11:20:35I’ve Never Touched One

Taking the Edge Off

November 30, 2015/in CNF, CNF, Winter-Spring 2016 / by K.C. Pedersen

  IT’S BEEN A LOVELY DAY (EVEN IF I DID WANT TO KILL MYSELF) “I find that being in a family is the most excruciating possible way to be alive.” —Anne Enright, The Gathering Greetings all, After a pleasant Thanksgiving with Mom and my siblings where he won all the after-dinner games, my father suffered a […]

Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Lyndsay Hall https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Lyndsay Hall2015-11-30 08:18:522023-08-11 10:45:31Taking the Edge Off
Page 3 of 512345

Issue Archive

  • Issue 23: Summer/Fall 2023
  • Issue 22: Winter/Spring 2023
  • Issue 21: Summer/Fall 2022
  • Issue 20: Winter/Spring 2022
  • Issue 19: Summer/Fall 2021
  • Issue 18: Winter/Spring 2021
  • Issue 17: Summer/Fall 2020
  • Issue 16: Winter/Spring 2020
  • Issue 15: Summer/Fall 2019
  • Issue 14: Winter/Spring 2019
  • Issue 13: Summer/Fall 2018
  • Issue 12: Winter/Spring 2018
  • Issue 11: Summer/Fall 2017
  • Issue 10: Winter/Spring 2017
  • Issue 9: Summer/Fall 2016
  • Issue 8: Winter/Spring 2016
  • Issue 7: Summer/Fall 2015
  • Issue 6: Winter/Spring 2015
  • Issue 5: Summer/Fall 2014
  • Issue 4: Winter/Spring 2014
  • Issue 3: Summer/Fall 2013
  • Issue 2: Winter/Spring 2013
  • Issue 1: Spring 2012

Genre Archive

  • Creative Nonfiction
  • Essays
  • Fiction
  • Flash Prose
  • Lunch Specials
  • Poetry
  • Interviews
  • Translation
  • Visual Art
  • Writing for Young People

Friday Lunch Blog

Friday Lunch! A serving of contemporary essays published the second Friday of every month.

Today’s course:

The Enduring Haunting of a Failed Driver’s Test(s)

September 15, 2023/in Blog / Meghan McGuire
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG_7402-1-scaled.jpeg 2560 2291 Meghan McGuire https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Meghan McGuire2023-09-15 14:59:022023-09-15 14:59:02The Enduring Haunting of a Failed Driver’s Test(s)

Glitch Wisdom

May 12, 2023/in Blog / KJ McCoy
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/christmas-chamo-squashed-scaled.jpg 2560 1573 KJ McCoy https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png KJ McCoy2023-05-12 11:00:032023-05-12 15:54:05Glitch Wisdom

Lessons on Getting Paid: My First Year as a Freelance Writer

April 14, 2023/in Blog / EJ Saunders
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/paul-hanaoka-unsplash-freelance-pay-post-1-scaled.jpg 2560 1707 EJ Saunders https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png EJ Saunders2023-04-14 11:59:292023-04-14 12:09:57Lessons on Getting Paid: My First Year as a Freelance Writer

More Friday Lunch Blog »

Midnight Snack

Take a bite out of these late night obsessions.

Tonight’s bites:

The Secret Histories of Everywhere

June 2, 2023/in Midnight Snack / Brian Lynn
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/headshot.jpg 241 358 Brian Lynn https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Brian Lynn2023-06-02 23:47:102023-06-12 23:03:37The Secret Histories of Everywhere

Into the Linguistic Rabbit Hole

May 5, 2023/in Midnight Snack / paparouna
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/alexander-grey-IDxuUey3M5E-unsplash-scaled.jpg 1707 2560 paparouna https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png paparouna2023-05-05 23:55:022023-05-05 20:13:45Into the Linguistic Rabbit Hole

Dancing into Detachment

April 7, 2023/in Midnight Snack / Robert Kirwin
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IMG_8449-scaled.jpg 2560 1920 Robert Kirwin https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Robert Kirwin2023-04-07 23:50:412023-04-07 18:13:12Dancing into Detachment

More Midnight Snacks »

Amuse-Bouche

Little bites every third Friday to whet your appetite!

Today’s plate:

Exercise

September 11, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Cecilia Savala
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Cecilia.jpg 1106 1080 Cecilia Savala https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Cecilia Savala2023-09-11 00:00:362023-09-11 00:00:36Exercise

LitDish: Ten Questions With Isabel Yap

September 1, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Interviewed by Gail Vannelli
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Isabel-Yap.jpeg 1412 1376 Interviewed by Gail Vannelli https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Interviewed by Gail Vannelli2023-09-01 12:37:292023-09-01 12:37:29LitDish: Ten Questions With Isabel Yap

Pawing the Ground

July 23, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Laurie Granieri
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Laurie-Granieri-headshot-rotated.jpg 1544 1160 Laurie Granieri https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Laurie Granieri2023-07-23 12:39:522023-07-25 09:30:39Pawing the Ground

More Amuse-Bouche »

School Lunch

An occasional Wednesday series dishing up today’s best youth writers.

Today’s slice:

I’ve Stayed in the Front Yard

May 12, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Brendan Nurczyk
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/SL-Insta-Brendan-Nurczyk-2.png 1500 1500 Brendan Nurczyk https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Brendan Nurczyk2021-05-12 10:18:392022-02-01 13:24:05I’ve Stayed in the Front Yard

A Communal Announcement

April 28, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Isabella Dail
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SL-FB-Isabella-Dail.png 788 940 Isabella Dail https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Isabella Dail2021-04-28 11:34:132021-04-28 11:34:13A Communal Announcement

Seventeen

April 14, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Abigail E. Calimaran
Read more
https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SL-Insta-Abigail-E.-Calimaran.png 1080 1080 Abigail E. Calimaran https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Abigail E. Calimaran2021-04-14 11:22:062021-04-14 11:22:06Seventeen

More School Lunch »

Word From the Editor

If you are an artist of any kind, chances are you are no stranger to The Unknown. In fact, it has probably been a motivating factor in creating your art. I know it has been for me. Wrestling with The Unknown is a fundamental part of the human experience, and the human experience is a fundamental part of art.

More from the current editor »
Current Issue »

Connect With Us

lunchticket on facebooklunchticket on instalunchticket on twitter
Submit to Lunch Ticket

A literary and art journal
from the MFA community at
Antioch University Los Angeles.

Get Your Ticket

We’ll keep you fed with great new writing, insightful interviews, and thought-provoking art, and promise with all our hearts never to share your info with anyone else.

Newsletter Signup
Copyright © 2021 LunchTicket.org. All Rights Reserved. Web design and development by GoodWebWorks.
Scroll to top