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All My Stories
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Incursion on Filet Mignon
by Bryan Franco After he cut off a charred edge of steak: before he bit the first bite, he impaled the steak with a steak knife, which stood at a perfect ninety-degree angle perpendicular to the steak. He imagined himself a Viking on a pillage. The steak was a sentry to a castle he breached. The knife was a sword that had last belonged to his great-uncle. He swiped the sliver of charred meat into au jus pooling in the plate then dipped it into mashed potatoes peppered with bl
Bryan Franco
Nov 5, 2025
Sugar Momma
by Stephen Siciliano Apricot blossom and Spicy Rose Mint champagne through Your heart It flows. Coffee smoke comes a whisperin’ up. Let me drink from that Lovin’ Cup. Been Skipping down a Peppermint Mile waitin’ on your Vanilla Smile. Keepin’ an eye on your Butterscotch Clock touchin’ my lips to a Candy Apple Rock. Darlin' let me taste some more of them flavors you keep in that Sensations Store That Hickory Whiskey over Black Cherry Ice Chocolate Raisins and Cinnamon Rice Str
Stephen Siciliano
Oct 29, 2025
Passing it Down
by Donna Faulkner Roast beef in dripping. Baby peas backstroke in a gravy moat, avalanche down mash spud mountain. Yorkshire puddings - play fat aristocrat. Dinner at Nans chef's kiss.
Donna Faulkner
Oct 28, 2025
Chaos Was A Blue Cat
by Irene Cunningham the woman I saw within her had pale blue hair with electric highlights. She could nestle in cloud under the moon… in fact it appeared sometimes there were great grey wings puffing around her, camouflaging her nakedness. No one knows what she got up to on those nights amongst rooftops and spires, and mornings after the short disappearances, she’d sit facing walls, tail wrapped around her paws probably re-living reckless raving—I should’ve called her Harpy.
Irene Cunningham
Oct 26, 2025
Anamnesis
by Emma Woodard It was growing pains, they said. Recess drama. The ache of new schools. Just puberty. You’re thirteen. It was homework. Stress. Nerves. The looming specter of SATs. It was the fourth thin envelope of rejection, the lost title of Valedictorian, the weight of a cap and gown. It was female issues, your weight, your attitude, your whirling hormones! It’s your period. A side effect of the medication, or perhaps not serious at all. Are you sure it’s not just mental?
Emma Woodard
Oct 22, 2025
His Final Hand Met Fate's Demand
by Ken Gosse Since Tarot cards tell what must be— they’re que será, not fancy free— my aces-over-eights quandary foretold someone was watching me. I didn’t bet my life on them and had no time to haw or hem. The villain, anxious to condemn, ignored my aphoristic gem. Afraid those words might be my last, perhaps I spoke a bit too fast. The dealer, knowing, thought I sassed when I said, “Think I’ll fold,” then passed. Indeed, I passed (not just a swoon) upon that August afternoo
Ken Gosse
Oct 20, 2025
Breadcrumbs
by Samantha McIntire There is a war Not of might Nor of magic Yet a war nonetheless Dark clouds cover The sky by day Yet the stars shine bright On these long dark nights A fire burns In a hearth of stone Yet snow blankets the land Far and wide The fire inside An amulet of protection Yet, beyond its reach The wolves snarl and bite Their fur grey and white The sky and land Their howls cold and hungry A piercing biting wind Breadcrumbs left In a dark forest at night Each crumb N
Samantha McIntire
Oct 19, 2025
The Situation
by Christopher Woods May this dinner last long with clever retorts and laughter as we linger over the courses - smoked salmon, onion soup...
Christopher Woods
Oct 8, 2025
Naked Lunch
by Bruno Talerico Serrated blade cleaves hard crust yielding yeasty aroma. Next a heavy slathering of viscous creamy mayonnaise, a single...
Catalina Bonati
Oct 7, 2025
The Tomato
by R.H. Nicholson Juice bursts from the punctured skin, oozing like cool lava, dribbling down my lips, chin, neck, fingers, elbow,...
R.H. Nicholson
Oct 6, 2025
Three Poems by Bruce McRae
by Bruce McRae Star Guide The Insomniac's Guide to the Stars, its numberless blank spaces and the smear of gravity for those who don't...
Bruce McRae
Oct 5, 2025
Two Poems by Wanjiku Njeri
by Wanjiku Njeri One at a Time My mind explodes with visions vivid flashbacks clear as day of the two of you in an embrace entwined —...
Wanjiku Njeri
Oct 1, 2025
Haiku Cats... Take Your Pick of the Litter
by Joan McNerney Shut Eye Black and white kitten lying under clothesline in soft circles of sleep. Weather Weary Calico cat curving...
Joan McNerney
Sep 29, 2025
The Heart of the Kitchen
by Daniel Miltz In kitchens warm Where flavors play The scent Of garlic fills the day A bubbling pot A fragrant stew Colors of spice...
Daniel Miltz
Sep 28, 2025
Two Poems by Catherine Arra
by Catherine Arra Our Once-a-Year Big-Batch Christmas Cookie: an Italian Fig Newton or what Nana called Guistino Pastry, Cuccidati. ...
Catherine Arra
Sep 23, 2025
Three Poems by Cynthia Gallaher
by Cynthia Gallaher Roots: Dense Treasure underground vegetables of the first chakra, muladhara, the rootedness we imitate in yogic...
Cynthia Gallaher
Sep 16, 2025
Nolan Gurer Sandesh- A Gastronomical Delight
by Sreelekha Chatterjee Spinning a yarn of sweet promises, softest melt-in-the-mouth sandesh, clings to the tongue like pleasant memories...
Sreelekha Chatterjee
Sep 15, 2025
Fish Fry- A Crispy Relish
by Sreelekha Chatterjee Pieces of fish cut into perfection— tender, boneless, and delicious like love— amity with spices aromatic in a...
Sreelekha Chatterjee
Sep 14, 2025
Articles
Dreaming of Kalbarri
by Meredith Stephens “Wake up! If we don’t get going now it will be too hot!” urged my fiance Alex. I couldn’t understand why we had to leave for Kalbarri National Park at 5:30am in darkness. Was it really going to get that hot? We quickly arose and headed to the car for the long drive. By the time we arrived, the day was breaking and we were among the first tourists to arrive at the famed Nature’s Window. We made our way along the trail to the window where international tour
Meredith Stephens
Nov 2, 2025
Between Two Skies: An Egyptian Heart in Albany
by Walid Abdallah When I first arrived in Albany, New York, in the winter of 2014, I felt as if I had stepped into a painting. The air...
Walid Abdallah
Oct 13, 2025
A Little Bundle of Fur/ A Not So Little Bundle of Fur
by Charles Stott I go for a walk most afternoons, and this Saturday in June was no exception. I felt good so I thought that I would go...
Charles Stott
Sep 22, 2025
Reviews
Refugium Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.75/5 stars ★★★⯪☆ Refugium by Eric Nicholas (2025) is a novel set in the Pleistocene, where several different types of pre-humans co-habitate as they take refuge from the Toba super-eruption aftermath in Sumatra. Set in an unspecified area of lower Asia, an Homo Erectus named Last is the lowest-ranking person in the tribe who must make do with scraps but who is sustained by the love of his little brother. The Erectus tribe is beset by a tribe of Homo Deni
Catalina Bonati
5 days ago
The Cold Visitor Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.75/5 stars ★★★⯪☆ Jonathan Butcher’s The Cold Visitor (published October 4, 2025) is a haunted house and cosmic horror novel that centers on the marriage of Sally and Herbert, who have reached their twilight years and now live in the retirement village of Heaven’s Sent. Sally comes from an accursed family who every half a century must complete a gruesome ritual in order to keep a demonic cosmic monster at bay, and the time has now come for the ritual to be
Catalina Bonati
Nov 16, 2025
Willow Rose Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.25/ 5 stars ★★★☆☆ Willow Rose by M. Kevin Hayden (to be published October 28 2025) is a short novel of...
Catalina Bonati
Aug 26, 2025
Short Stories
One More for the Essex
by James Callan She rose from her ocean bed, roused from the dark by her need to breathe. Like stars, like Cetus in the night sky, she brought light to the world off the glint of her back. She was silver in the moonlight, the surf churning pearls, a rich foam and salted spray that stirred the lookouts from the masthead. Larboard, starboard, rise ye sleepers and roustabouts! Leeward! Captain Pollard cried. Leviathan! Thar she blows! Breaching the horizon, the sun raked the sea
James Callan
4 days ago
A Small Glass of Sherry
by Owen Townend Winter’s early dark and sudden chill often sets me in search of comfort. Familiar ground for better or worse. That December night brought me to the tired town of Feldon, one of four places I grew up in. For a little over a year in my mid-teens, Feldon was home and a happy one. I had friends who led me through its streets, just watching the comings and goings of everybody else. We always ended up at the car park of the local wine bar, Your Excellent Sherris. A
Catalina Bonati
Dec 28, 2025
Anthropophagy for the Urban Hipster, Or, What to Do With Your Hands at Pretentious Parties
by Elissa Hunter Rebecca can tell Mickey’s a douchebag from the moment he introduces himself. Not just because he goes by Mickey instead of Mike or Michael or even Mikey. He’s also wearing too much cologne and has an unfortunate soul patch that looks like a bunch of blond pubes glued to his chin. Normally, even in her most desperate of dry spells, Rebecca would have run as soon as she saw him coming. But here they are, at a holiday party in a too-small apartment in Brooklyn,
Elissa Hunter
Dec 22, 2025
Poetry
Myth of Harvest
by Srijani Dutta The female ones tiptoed to the forest To unburden the agonies of daily wages, Instead they heard the cries of the dead; Wind carried the leaves from the old tree And placed around the yellow swamp At the backyard of a lady’s hut; They went there to listen To the music of the earth And count fireflies like the fate lines of palms In the dark autumn night, Eyes stumbled out Reminding themselves Of their origins and history As their eyes came across None B
Srijani Dutta
2 days ago
Agate
by John Swain Agate the sea wreathes mosaic, we wade in the shallow, we float on gold rosettes to the diamondback sandbar, your eyes fletch the sunlight, the sun stills in prism. The sky shines to billow the skirt of your dress like a sail, you move to tilt the wild sphere, you curve to mindful blue. We wash transparent, you necklace sun inscripted on the pendant clasped with agate bound like wind behind my neck.
John Swain
3 days ago
Rooted Silence
by Iván A. Salazar M. translated from Spanish by Stefania Rodríguez Castro The pillow cradles a furrow of voice where every echo turns to salt. (A tide‑less moon lets fall a sigh into the silent receiver.) Your name is now a moth, a silent thief that feasts upon the chronicles of days. August has a hole and December bleeds black ink. In the mirror, someone unravels a skein of shadows —is it you?— but logic rots between my fingers: only a clock without hands remain and a tree
Ivan A. Salazar M.
4 days ago
Art & Photography
Submission Guidelines
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We do not publish homophobic, transphobic, racist, or misogynist works of any kind.
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If the piece you wish to submit has italics or an image attached, please email us your submission at ultramarineliteraryreview@gmail.com rather than using the submission form.
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Art and photography must be uploaded to an email and must NOT be shared as a Google Drive document.
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Prose must be less than 3,000 words.
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Poetry must be less than 3 pages, single-spaced.
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We respond to submissions within the span of two weeks.
Submissions
Contact
Terms and Agreements
By clicking on the SUBMIT button, you are agreeing to the following terms:
a) The submission is an original work that has not been previously published.
b) You have obtained permissions by the third party involved if the submitted work contains intellectual property not attributed to your authorship.
c) By submitting, you guarantee you hold the rights to the work, and you grant Ultramarine Literary Review the rights to publish the submitted work. After publication, rights revert to the author.
d) Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but the author must let us know if their work has been accepted elsewhere prior to publication.
e) Submitted articles, reviews, and short prose fiction less than 1,000 words will be translated from English-Spanish of Spanish-English by Wix Translation AI along with manual translation by the editor. The author has the right to approve or deny translation.
f) Poems will not be translated unless the author supplies their human-written translation.
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