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  • A True Story

    A woman visits the auto showroom down her street, carefully     inspects all the glamorous, unattainable cars, opens the door of an all-white Lincoln convertible and gets in.     A salesman with sideburns walks over, says how-do, asks her if she’d like to take it for a spin. “Sure,” she     says, and off they…

  • The Dolphin

    When the fin of faithlessness appeared I watched it circle, dip, and veer then ride the swells. Where I stood, on shore among the surf-casters’ gear, RVs and 4 x 4’s, I tried to guess where it would rise, sleek bottlenose breaking next, so I might measure the erratic progress that it made beyond the…

  • John Keats in Colorado

    for Leslie and Kitty Norris He has no choice: he must leave England and travel, not to Rome, a mistake in his case, but to Colorado where the mountain air and winter sun will clear his lungs. He’ll pack a twig from the plum tree and some gravel from the garden walk. He’ll sing to…

  • Mayo ham & cheese

    mayo ham & cheese    mayonnaise, jambon, fromage    lettuce, tomato two slices wheat bread    golden delicious apple    pack of snack crackers iced tea in the fridge    (instant) or if you prefer    instant lemonade they’re feeding us too well    not that I’m getting worried    I’m enjoying camp I think I’ll come back    that’s better than misery    better…

  • Campbell McGrath, Cohen Award

    Cohen Awards  Each year, we honor the best short story and poem published in Ploughshares with the Cohen Awards, which are wholly sponsored by our longtime patrons Denise and Mel Cohen. Finalists are nominated by staff editors, and the winners — each of whom receives a cash prize of $600 — are selected by our…

  • Police Chief’s Daughter

    from Citizens Review Then there was the police chief’s daughter, always bad news. Like tonight-another roasting summer night, air conditioners not quite keeping up-she sat alone at the bar, tapping her chipped fingernails against a glass. She took a last drag on the cigarette the fag gave her, a lousy, tasteless, low-tar wimp of a…

  • Contributors’ Notes

    MASTHEAD Guest Editor Mary Gordon Editor Don Lee Poetry Editor David Daniel Assistant Editor Susan Conley Assistant Fiction Editor Maryanne O'Hara Founding Editor DeWitt Henry Founding Publisher Peter O'Malley Editorial Assistants: Thomas McNeely, Jessica Olin, Debra DeFord, and Tom Herd. Fiction Readers: Heidi Pitlor, Billie Lydia Porter, Emily Doherty, Michael Rainho, Leah Stewart, Tammy Zambo,…