WWPH WRITES ISSUE 72
WWPH Writes 72… why is this issue different from all others? In this issue, food symbolizes so much more — our past, our futures, our prophecies. Lunchtime Lesson by Terry Cox-Joseph transports us back; Why is This Shopping Trip Different Thank All Others or Freedom’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Buy from Beth Kanter is a small miracle in less than 200 words. Read on!
Caroline Bock & Jona Colson
co-presidents and co-editors
Washington Writers’ Publishing House
WWPH WRITES POETRY
Terry Cox-Joseph is a writer and artist with a BFA in illustration from Minneapolis Art of College and Design. She is a former reporter and is past president of the Poetry Society of Virginia and a member of the National League of American Pen Women. Her work has been published in The Blotter, The Poeming Pigeon, Artemis Journal and Chiron Review.
©Terry Cox-Joseph 2024
WWPH WRITES PROSE
Beth Kanter is a proud DC resident whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in a range of publications including McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Emerge Literary Journal, and Cease, Cows. Beth is a Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fiction nominee. When not writing, she leads creative nonfiction workshops and mentors other writers.
Why is This Shopping Trip Different Than All Others or Freedom’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Buy
I met Miriam the Prophetess not on the shores of a split sea but in the frozen food aisle of KosherMart three days before the first seder as we both reached for the last package of Kosher for Passover Tabatchnick Ochlei Kitniot Split Pea Soup. With a shopping list almost as long as the Colossi of Memnon in the Notes app of her phone and a steady percussion beat rising from her AirPods, her fingers reached the prize seconds before mine. I shook it off Swiftie style since it’s common knowledge that all’s fair in love and Pesach shopping. Miriam drew a heart in the frost covering the door to the freezer case. Here. She handed me the cold box. I was there. I don’t need it. The prophetess then sent her overflowing cart flying down the aisle, nearly taking down my friend Rachel K’s bubbe in the process. Vape pen in hand, Miriam danced her way past the self-checkout, through the automatic doors, and toward Rockville Pike where she stomped in the puddles that had accumulated from a sudden downpour. I don’t think we are at Sinai anymore.
©Beth Kanter 2024
WWPH NewS
Our award-winning titles are available everywhere books are sold. Our upcoming 2024 books are now available for pre-order. Support your local independent bookstore and your WWPH by ordering them from www.bookshop.org. And our classic ebooks are now on sale! 
Insider news...this September, we will be opening submissions for our new anthology AMERICA’S FUTURE. Stay tuned for more details! More insider news: On September 17th we will undertake our second WWPH LITERARY SALON at the National Arts Club in Washington DC. It’s all made possible with a generous grant from the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities. Keep reading WWPH Writes for more details on these exciting happenings!
