Category Archives: National Issue 4 Spring 2026

On most weekday mornings in Tokyo I board the Keiyō Line with a small stack of vocabulary cards and the quiet determination of a man who has decided, midlife, to become illiterate again on purpose. I mouth syllables under my breath. A, i, u, e, o. Ka, ki, ku, ke, ko. The train rocks gentlyContinue reading “Shisa Kankō…Pointing, Calling – Zary Fekete”

The miracle did not shout my name. It came like a soft tap inside my chest: A delay! A missed step! A quiet feeling that said, Do not go yet. I once turned back for no reason. The bus I missed later broke. People called it luck! I stood shaking! Knowing something unseen, Had stoodContinue reading “Ofo – Anselm Eme”

Franz Kafka moved in with me today into my rented flat with a broken radiator hissing like a dying animal. His hair is greasy with the slime of the grave. His bald pate, coloured like a palm tree in the middle of an oasis of hair, shakes dandruff sequins from the desert mirage onto theContinue reading “An Ax For the Frozen Sea – Rebecca Gould”

If light upon this river would not dim If moonbeams lingered, stars would yet dwell near; If when our Summer sang her final hymn The shadows kept themselves far from this sphere; I would, in earnest, make attempts to stay. But Dusk climbs over every mountain’s peak It’s spectral glance turns living things away  AndContinue reading “October Sonnet – Elenya Hempstead”

 Delphinium and oleander       oleander spritz, my love—             as irreverent as I make it sound                 I did love you—I do love you                      you that were the exoskeleton             of my eye and my reverence      You that taught my consecration You that taught me to discern      star from fruitflesh, moon                    Continue reading “Oleanders Sing at Night – Anupama Choudhury”

It wasn’t every day one got invited to a dead man’s party. In fact, it happened at night.             Join us, the words echoed in Danya’s dream, a wispy hand beckoning her. Join us betwixt midnight and dawn… bring pizza…             She stepped over the faces of the damned to nab a flatbread with ghostContinue reading “Dead Man’s Party – Asher Frost”

Schroeder thinks he’s too good for the morning races. Instead of beating the pavement, he sits above the world: the flat-top of the American Bank building on the corner of 11th and Lehrer. The building was the peak of architecture when it was constructed around the time that Ellis Island was hemorrhaging the tired andContinue reading “Razing the Structure – Luccas Hart”

Poetry Abbey Bowman (she/her) is a feminist fiction writer, poet, playwright, and designer from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is a senior English major with a concentration in creative writing and a minor in theatre at Commonwealth University – Bloomsburg Campus: Pink Bismuth Anupama Choudhury (she/her) is a Creative Writing student pursuing poetry. She draws inspirationContinue reading “Contributors – Spring 2026”

I wonder if my grandfather ever tires of people whispering around him. If their hushed tones grate on his deafened ears, or if he has enjoyed living his life in silence. He must know by now, after all these years, that what is said under one’s breath is likely something he would not want toContinue reading “My Grandfather’s God – Kayleigh Papagelis”

There is so much evil in the world! I am running late to the party! I shouldn’t have worn Doc Martens. I can feel the blisters now. Isn’t vegan leather softer, springier? Sure, there are things I don’t like: these holes forming in my socks, poems where every line is capitalized. But you’re here andContinue reading “A Love Poem Where We Go to a Party to celebrate Everything and Nothing! – Jadey Holcomb”

No one else can see them. No one except the Daughter, that is. In her Family, there is a Daughter and a Son, both quirky and opposite of each other, and there is also a Mother and a Father, who have a toxic relationship that never gets addressed. None of them look alike, but thatContinue reading “No One Else Can See Them – Celia Bonawandt”

do you know that old Pink Bismuth™ commercial,             Bambi-eyed wife with the heatless curlers and the shrew voice that sat in her nose?             the one who called her husband darling and dear and mon petit chou? the one in the teaberry bathrobe?             do you remember her? all dolled up she used toContinue reading “Pink Bismuth – Abbey Bowman”

Aidan Gallagher lay in his hospital bed, eyes plastered open, the first time he heard the wailing. To most, the banshee’s cry would be something to fear. But to Aidan, it meant he would soon embark on a new journey.             Aidan pined for his death as one would long for a lover. A two-timeContinue reading “Forever After – Mickey Black”

Dear readers, I could not be happier to release the Spring 2026 National Edition of The Tributary. This edition blew my expectations out of the water with the amazing work we received from not just all over the U.S., but worldwide. Sharing in greater experiences has been a leading philosophy this year, and while IContinue reading “Letter from the Editor, Spring 2026”