Issue 119 · October 2026 Submissions open for the January issue · close Dec 10 Submit → BookstoreCart (0)
Burningword

← All issues

Issue

Issue 6

July 2001 · 9 pieces

Bad Apples

July 2001 | back-issues, fiction, Jack Swenson

Fiction · Issue 6Wanda here. I'm the director of Social Services at the Lutheran Home. I do a little bit of everything around here. I'm the chief cook and bottle washer, so to speak. Mainly I'm in charge of patient welfare. I see to it that the gals get new undies when they need them and that the guys get to the grocery store when they run out of oatmeal or prunes. It's a good job. Busy, busy. But that's the way I like it. And George and Ida are good people to work for.

Daddy

July 2001 | back-issues, Jack Swenson, nonfiction

Nonfiction · Issue 6We finally figured out what to do with my wife's father. We locked him up. "Shoulda done it years ago," was Kermit's opinion, expressed at a family meeting called to decide the old boy's fate. Really, there was nothing else to do. His wife, no spring chicken herself, couldn't deal with him anymore. Who else was going to take him in? His brothers and sisters were either dead or as crazy as he was, Kermit, the youngest, being the exception. But Kermit, a bachelor, wasn't caretaker material. Kermit and Earl didn't get along anyway. "Never did, never will, "Kermit said. I once asked Kermit why he didn't like his brother. "Because He's a jackass," Kermit replied.
Burningword

Burningword Literary Journal publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction and visual art three times a year, in January, April and October, on the web and in print. Established 2001.

ISSN 2161-8992 (print) · ISSN 2157-7366 (online)

Newsletter

Deadlines, awards and new issues, once a month.

AboutContributorsSubmission GuidelinesTerms & CopyrightPrivacyCookie PolicyDisclaimerImprintContact© 2000–2026 Burningword Literary Journal and its authors