The Big Brick Review
Building on the narrative of our lives...one brick at a time.
GUEST ESSAY
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by Marty Nott Paint me an autumn landscape, Mr. Wood, with trees and hedgerows tinted in pumpkin-pie oranges, yellows, rusts and apple reds. Chill it with a hint of frost, top it with whipped cream clouds, and paint in a barn or two...read more |
11 carefully selected essays from our 2015 summer open submissions window,
featuring both emerging and established writers.
Building Safety
by Cynthia Weissbein
ON THE WAY to the hospital, a small suitcase on my lap, I thought about pain. Not the pain of childbirth, surprisingly, but a sudden recognition of my impending dependency. “He could hurt me,” I thought, “He could really hurt me.” The “he” I was referring to was my husband, and the fear I was experiencing was of vulnerability... Read more
Bathroom
by Joy Underhill
HER STEP QUICKENS, barely touching the stair runners. He is after her again, his gait unsteady and heavy behind her. She always beats him to the bathroom and secures the only lock in our house... Read more
Rainbow Harbor
by Kelly Shaw
I WAS ADOPTED, aged eight years, by a Scottish family, and moved from the home to an island in the Inner Hebrides. The Isle of Mull. I had to learn some new tricks, a new set of rules, accepting that beauty has no single place, and that a Cimmerian shore doesn’t have to hold my heart... Read more
Chocolate Rabbits
by Patricia Roth Schwartz
SQUINTING INTO THE sun, our eyes were always pinched shut, pastel skirts afloat on three starched crinolines each billowing around us. My Toni Home Perm kinky curls bulged from my head always underneath a hat of net and velveteen with fake roses, my sister’s bangs hung not quite evenly cut, our smiles tight and forced from all the waiting... Read more
From Hair to Eternity
by Theresa Sanders
"LOOK AT THIS," Mom said, holding up a little glass sugar bowl. It was beautiful and unique, with delicate, hand-painted flowers gracing its surface. “I got it as a wedding gift. Oh, and look! Here’s the creamer.” Read more
The Building Box
by Rose Quinnan
IT WAS RAINING the day the box arrived. The UPS driver had left it on the front porch steps. There was a chance the box would’ve never been opened if it hadn’t been left out in the rain. I had to check for damage... Read more
Run, Catch, and Kiss
by Mary Purdy
I'M DASHING AWAY from the boys in a breathless game of Run, Catch and Kiss. “R.C.K”, we call it, the simple sequence of letters easily conjuring up thrilling terror. It’s dusk, the day light on its last legs—a marriage of pink and grey—and the idea of one of them catching me and kissing me knots my stomach shooting a flurry of sparks into my bloodstream... Read more
Home
by Jenna Marcellus
I CRINGE AS the thought creeps across my mind for the thousandth time today: I hope no one buys this house. This officially makes me the most selfish person on the planet. After twenty-eight years, my parents have decided to sell our house and migrate south for, well, forever. I know that I should be supportive... Read more
Fourplex
by Christine Green
TODAY ON THE phone my mother says, “When we were landlords...”
“What do you mean ‘landlords’?”
“Your dad and I built a fourplex in Colorado Springs when you were just a baby. Those apartments were supposed to make us rich... Read more
Firsts
by M. Justine Foster
I LOVE READING other peoples ‘old house’ experiences! It reminds me of the house that the parents and sister of my first husband lived in. It was in Lawrenceville, GA, now a bedroom community for Atlanta. Its main claim to fame was that it was still standing in 1969, after surviving Sherman's March to the sea... Read more
Spring
by David Brabec
MAJORS ARE THE first to try out. They know the routine of fielding and batting while managers jot down scores to draft a Little League team. They have uniforms, are older, throw hard, and have a lot of confidence. A new kid comes in a T-shirt and jeans. Hair covers his face allowing him to hide himself. He’s a little overweight... Read more
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