Hi! Fine Lines is a journal dedicated to supporting creative writers. Read, enjoy and Write On!
Cadaver
Elizabeth Baltaro
It was not as scary as we had imagined,
when we opened the metal crypt
that cradled our body, our cadaver.
The first thing I noticed were bright pink nails.
Without stories, clothing, hair, nor jewelry,
the meager remains of a lifetime
were painted on her fingers. (more…)
Beethoven or Baseball?
14.4 Winter 2005
David Martin
When I write at a computer, I often hear instrumental music with a piano leading the melody. I never notice words or lyrics. As I place my fingers on the keyboard, I sense a concert hall and a quiet audience, waiting. I hear a symphony in the background, and I see Ludwig van Beethoven in my mind.
Why music? Why the piano? Why Beethoven? More importantly, why at the computer? After years of wondering, the answer became clear to me one night, as I tied sentences together and coasted into the 3 a.m. darkness. (more…)
Believe in Small Things
David Martin
16.4 Winter 2007 Fine Lines
(Often, David Martin stuttered in school, because he could think faster than he could talk. Many times, he felt like a slow learner, but he wanted to become a better student. On his own, he figured out that most class situations revolved around reading issues. If he could read better, he thought he would perform at a higher level. He read as much as he could in his room, alone, and when he started getting better grades, he stuttered less. When he learned to process his answers after hearing the teacher’s questions and was allowed time enough to think his thoughts through, he stopped stuttering altogether. He figured this out by learning to enjoy reading.) (more…)
One Firefly
18.3 2009 Fall
David Martin
The universe is 14 billion years old; planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old; and humans are less than 100,000 years old, but if the universe was condensed into one day, the total existence of humanity would be the length of time it takes for one firefly’s light to flicker. Of course, the universe is amazing. Sure, the Earth needs exploration, but that one firefly intrigues my imagination the most. (more…)
All Good Things
17.2 Summer 2008
(David Martin is the Fine Lines Creative Writing Summer Camp Director.)
“All good things which exist are fruits of originality.” John Stuart Hill
Fine Lines creates summer writing camps for those young students of all ages who find peace in words. Our camps are places where writers of all abilitites share stories, essays, poems, and songs. These writing communities become a universe of combined wisdom in metaphor.
As “Woody” Gruber, one of our best camp story tellers, likes to say, “Each writer brings a candle of light and insight to the written page, and when those many sources of energy are united, they create a lighthouse that shines into the darkness and helps ‘those alone on ships at sea.’ Years ago, Arch Bishop Fulton Sheen used to have a television show called The Christophers, and his motto for each program was, ‘It is better to light just one candle than to curse the darkness.’ The most important thing writers can do is to light their candles by writing.” (more…)
(Mary Davey Wilson teaches humanities classes at Omaha North High School.)
I’ve come to realize
that trauma changes all. (more…)
(Dr. Don Welch is a retired English professor from the University of Nebraska at Kearney , NE. )
To play a small candle
on a moonless night,
a voice of light
among the politics of black; (more…)
(Liz Sharpe wrote this poem in the eighth grade at Beveridge Magnet School , Omaha , NE. )
I’ll always be her little girl,
giggling in her lap,
protesting a nap . . . (more…)
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Fine Lines is entering its eighteenth consecutive year of providing a place
where creative writers can share their written ideas with others. The
journal, therefore, is dedicated to the writing development of all its
members. What started out as a classroom project is now a fifty-state
network of authors who love the written word and have the support of a
501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
