Greetings dear reader!
Welcome once again to confetti.
For this edition, our fifth installment, we trundle out of semi-winter blinking and peeking toward a bright, new Spring. Time once again for poetry, prose, plays and stories.
Contained within our digital pages is a new collection of eclectic expressions. Poems, fictions, and some new feature articles as we find great talent in the neighborhood of Westchester Writers Workshop and the Somers Library. We continue to gather from a myriad of countries including Ireland, India, Ukraine, and Nigeria and our selection includes a vast variety – some new faces and some familiar.
Writer and visual artist Janice Boland contributed a delightful water coloresque for our cover. Lisa O’Neil Guerci covers a local poetry open mic with artistic flair, and we continue our search for the sublime and extraordinary.
If I detect a common theme in our poetry submissions, I will say many are personal searches and self-discoveries with metaphysical and universal implications. Nature is prominent, and dystopias ever present, but the human spirit prevails throughout. Our prose selections include some flash and micro-fictions, and a play starring Oscar Wilde as a hologram!
Our featured author is also a poet who over the years has published fiction and poetry. William Teets leads his own writers’ group in Michigan and is no stranger to the pages of confetti. Many know of his debut novel, Upside-down: One on the House, but two books of poetry and another hard-hitting fiction about a troubled urban youth, Reverend Went Walking, quickly propels this artist to the category of local favorite. To call his style “in-your-face,” “raw and gritty” speaks nothing of how crucified platitudes and stripped away sentiment make way for profound, naked feeling, thoughtful and powerful allusions, and soul wrenching reflection.
One aspect of our magazine we find paramount is the ability for you, the reader, to interact with the pieces you read in confetti. We encourage and welcome feedback. Look for the form at the end of each page enabling you to leave feedback, comments, praise, and cheers. An email address is all that is required by our web platform, and we will never publish or share this information. We love to hear from you, and we know our contributing poets, writers, playwrights, and authors also thrive on the applause and feedback from the audience. Feel free to let your voice be heard in this interactive way.
What’s next for confetti? We continue our search for outré poetry and prose and we also invite artists to share images or photos. See our submission page for details. We are already receiving submissions for our Fall edition! Thank you to those who share their talent and stories and verse. Without you, our magazine could not exist. Our success is your success!
From all our selectors, our stolid and sedulous webmaster, and on behalf of Westchester Writers Workshop and the Somers Library, I would like to thank you for your submissions, your readership, and your support.
Enjoy confetti and celebrate eclectic!
~Gabriel Sebastian
Editor-in-chief, confetti
May 2023
Spring 2023 Edition
We are pleased to announce our Spring 2023 edition of confetti.
CONTRIBUTORS
Fiction by: Alice Archer, William Baker, P.A. Farrell, Mary Walsh Foley, J.P.J. Fox, Calla Gold, Elizabeth Liang, margie marek, Axel Martens, Don Noel, Judy Voss
Non-fiction by: Susan Bloch, Janice Boland
Poetry by: C. J. Anderson-Wu, W Roger Carlisle, Shuvra Das, D.F., Joseph A Farina, John Grey, Lisa O’Neil Guerci, Edward Lee, margie marek, Lawrence Miles, Chaya Nadi, Malaena Nahmias, Diana Raab, Nick Romeo, Gregg Shapiro, Dominik Slusarczyk, Marianne Tefft, Terry Trowbridge
Plays by: Mark Knight
Cover art by: Janice Boland
FEATURES
William Teets, A Gathering of Poets, The French Lover’s Wife
See the full Table of Contents.
Cover art “Clown” by Janice Boland
An Embarrassment of Riches
Greetings dear reader!
Welcome once again to confetti.
For this edition, our fourth issue, we found ourselves reading one engaging and well written story after another and facing the challenge of choosing publish-worthy pieces. Of the more than one hundred poems submitted this time around, each was beautiful or provocative or eloquent in its own way and the plethora of quality made our selections a near Herculean, yet enjoyable, task. The quality of submissions had us believing we were faced with an embarrassment of riches.
Without embarrassment, however, and with pride, we present to you our Fall 2022 edition of confetti. We’ve pulled together a great selection of stories and poetry for your enjoyment.
Also in this issue, we’ve featured an artist who contributed her artwork for our cover page. Writer and visual artist Janice Williams graces our cover with her piece entitled “Tree of Many Colors”. You can read about her along with some of her poetry and her interview with confetti. Be sure to check out her online galleries linked in her feature page.
You can read some excellent short fiction by J.P.J. Fox, our featured author for this issue and a long-standing member of Westchester Writers Workshop.
What’s next for confetti? We continue our search for remarkable poetry and prose, and we are exploring art submission opportunities. Stay tuned.
We are already receiving submissions for our spring edition! Thank you to those who share their talent and stories and verse. Without you, our magazine could not exist. Our success is your success!
From all our selectors, our robust and rugged webmaster, and on behalf of Westchester Writers Workshop, I would like to thank you for your submissions, your readership, and your support.
Enjoy confetti and celebrate eclectic!
~Gabriel Sebastian
Editor-in-chief, confetti
November 2022
Fall 2022 Edition
We are pleased to announce our Fall 2022 edition of confetti.
CONTRIBUTORS
Fiction by: Steve Carr, William Cass, DC Diamondopolous, J.P.J. Fox, Scott Archer Jones, Sharyn Kolberg, Mario Lowther, Don Noel, Niles Reddick, Kristin H. Sample, John Sheirer, Adam Strassberg, Leon Taylor, Judy Voss
Non-fiction by: Malaena Nahmias
Poetry by: R. A. Allen, Dennis J Bernstein, Matt Chalmers, James Cochran, John Dorroh, Joshua Gage, John Grey, Lisa O’Neil Guerci, Jack D. Harvey, Mary Kennelly, Chelsie Kreitzman, Allan Lake, Oksana Lizunova, DS Maolalai, Paweł Markiewicz, Nazanin Mirsadeghi, Susan Oleferuk, Gerard Sarnat, William Teets
Art by: Janice Williams
See the full Table of Contents.
Cover art “Tree of Many Colors” by Janice Williams
Letter from the Editor
Greetings dear reader!
Welcome once again to confetti.
I am pleased to invite you to our third edition of confetti, our Spring issue. This edition was gleaned from a growing number of submissions, the most we’ve had to date! The selection becomes more difficult, more debated, and I believe more successful as the quality of poetry, fiction, plays and stories continues to impress.
Again, this edition brings stories and poems from around the world and perhaps your backyard.
Be sure to check out our featured poet in this issue, Lisa, whose poetry proliferates on Facebook and who is currently working on collecting and publishing her best.
We welcome all comments and discussions on the works we publish. Our writers and poets appreciate the feedback and certainly all praise. And finally, thank you for reading!
confetti is a celebration of words!
On behalf of the Board of Editors, submission selectors, and our scrupulous and true Webmaster, thank you for reading!
~Gabriel Sebastian
Editor-in-chief, confetti
May 2022
Spring 2022 Edition
We are pleased to announce our Spring 2022 edition of confetti.
CONTRIBUTORS
Fiction by: Catherine Alexander, Alex R. Encomienda, J.P.J. Fox, Terry John Malik, Eadbhard McGowan, Malaena Nahmias, Dana Trick, Judy Voss
Non-fiction by: Jeffrey Feingold
Poetry by: Angela Acosta, Bidisha Chakraborty, Maid Čorbić, PW Covington, Oriada Dajko, TAK Erzinger, Joseph A Farina, John Grey, Lisa O’Neil Guerci, Jennifer Ruth Jackson, George Perreault, Mahbubat Salahudeen, Sunil Sharma, Pat St. Pierre, Linda Tancs
Play by: Veronica Brown
See the full Table of Contents.
Letter from the Editor
Greetings dear reader!
Welcome once again to confetti.
Our second issue comes to you provocative and bustling. We experienced joy and surprise at the number of submissions – not only from our own writers’ group members and local talent, but also a bounty of international submissions. So, this edition brings stories and poems from around the world and perhaps your backyard. Our selectors chose well from a wide range of worthy submissions including non-fiction entries, poetry, a play, and flash fictions. Coincidentally and not consciously in pursuit of a theme, some of the stories have a dark underbelly–itching the Halloween and horror spirits in an exploration of death, turmoil, and tricks. Our poems did not trend to the dying season, rather more towards the fullness of the harvest.
Be sure to check out our featured poet in this issue, Katharine Schulz, whose poetry astounded our selectors in its scope, rhythm, and depth. Our prediction is that you will see more from this young poet as word of her prosodic baubles reaches the eyes and ears of appreciative audiences. Also, help us celebrate the life and works of a departed member of the Westchester Writers Workshop, Scott E. Smith.
We welcome all comments and discussions of the works we publish. Our writers and poets appreciate the feedback and certainly all praise. And finally, thank you for reading!
confetti is a celebration of words!
On behalf of the Board of Editors, submission selectors, and our doughty Webmaster, thank you for reading!
~Gabriel Sebastian
Editor-in-chief, confetti
November 2021
Fall 2021 Edition
We are pleased to announce our Fall 2021 edition of confetti.
CONTRIBUTORS
Fiction by: Subrata Das, J.P.J. Fox, Christina Hoag, Mark Jabaut, Richard Natale, Niles Reddick, Daniel Tarker, Judy Voss, Patricia Walkow
Non-fiction by: Barbara Alfaro
Poetry by: Dee Allen, John Carew, Maid Čorbić, Joseph A Farina, Shaswata Gangopadhyay, Norbert Góra, John Grey, Lisa O’Neil Guerci, LaVern Spencer McCarthy, Joan McNerney, Bruce McRae, Arik Mitra, P. Muralidharan, Katharine Schulz, Gabriel Sebastian
Play by: Dave Patton
See the full Table of Contents.
Letter from the Editor
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the first ever issue of confetti online literary magazine.
Nine years ago, with the blessing of Somers Library, I began a small peer review writers group, the Westchester Writers Workshop. Over the years, more than 100 members have passed through the group, sharing stories, poems, memoirs and the quick camaraderie of an open group.
One common wish permeated our conversations: “I wish I could be published.” Countless submissions yielded several publications, but rejection seemed the soupe de jour. We decided to start our own publication, one showcasing our local talent but catering to the world—catering a smorgasbord of poems, stories, fictions and truths, art and artistry.
In our upcoming issues, we hope to provide a plethora of reading experiences from romance to fantasy, sci-fi to narrative, from found poems to villanelles, no genre turned away.
So enjoy! Read on and please provide feedback to our authors and poets. Consider sharing your own writing talents.
confetti is a celebration of words!
On behalf of the Board of Editors, submission selectors, and our doughty Webmaster, thank you for reading!
~Gabriel Sebastian
Editor-in-chief, confetti
Spring 2021 Edition
We are pleased to announce our Spring 2021 edition of confetti.
CONTRIBUTORS
Fiction by: J.P.J. Fox, Janet Garber, Sheldon Hanner, Judy Voss, Patricia Young
Non-fiction by: Buddy Matt Coughlin
Poetry by: Mary Coughlin, Andrew Crellin, Lisa O’Neil Guerci, margie merek, Thea Schiller, Katharine Schulz, Gabriel Sebastian
See the full Table of Contents
