Bay Laurel, an online literary journal of previously rejected fiction and poetry, published the Winter 2012 issue. I have both a poem and a short story in this issue.
The poem, Stone Upon my Heart, reflects upon relationship, family and loss. I wrote this poem over several months after my wife and I lost our second child in the 13th week of pregnancy in January 2011. This poem was the starting place of a collection I am currently working on that will delve into being the “other mommy” in a same gender family, the experience of being the non-biological parent and what is family today.
The short story, Captain Harper Says Goodbye, was written several years before the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. This short, short story describes the experience of a military family who must say goodbye before an overseas combat deployment yet the family is hidden and can not be acknowledged. With the repeal of DADT last year, many GLBT families no longer experience what is reflected in the story. Many still do though, as for some, the action of coming out in their military unit remains an action that would invite hostility or negative career impact. The story thus reflects for some the reality that remains for LGBT military members and their families.
Read Stone Upon my Heart here.
Read Captain Harper Says Goodbye here.
Bay Laurel online journal here.
Thanks for reading.
Vicki Hudson 