Runaway Bunny, Revisited
– Nonfiction by Paula Sergi –
He calls from across the ocean at 2 AM and there’s a spark in my chest at his voice on the line, a twitch like that small butterfly I felt in my womb before he was born. Lately (say, the last four years), we have not been close except for hugs at the holidays, and though I understand the normal growth curve, how late adolescence requires separation, I sometimes worry the distance will expand beyond retrieval, despite our long-ago moments together, bedtime stories, favorite books. Is there some natural law of reversal in response to disuse, an atrophy of heart?
But never mind, he’s on the line, spending expensive minutes pouring out an argument with his dad, to which he knows I won’t respond. And with this call I realize that if I am a sailboat crossing the ocean, he is the wind; and if I climb a mountain, he is a flower in the field; and if I am a fish in the stream, he is the fisherman, his line sure, his lure at my mouth, spinning and spinning again.
About the Author – Paula Sergi
Star Boy is the fourth poetry chapbook by Paula Sergi. She’s edited three anthologies, including two collections of writing by nurses. The recipient of a Wisconsin Arts Board Artist Fellowship, she was also selected as the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters cultural ambassador to Germany. Her poems have been published in many magazines and are frequently anthologized. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College and a BSN from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She lives in Wisconsin on the Fond du Lac River.
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- Results of the 2025 Dreamers Flash Contest
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Meanwhile, at Dreamers…
Fireside Writing Retreat
It’s simple; a set of prompts, a loose structure, and time set aside to move through it at your own pace. You can follow it closely or not at all. There’s no expectation to produce anything finished.
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Dreamers Writing Farm is the physical home of the Dreamers community, a quiet, creative space on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario. Writers, artists, and travellers stay here throughout the year in simple, literary-themed cabins, tents, and studio suites.