The standout essays in Megan Marshall’s “After Lives” recall her troubled father and the fate of a high school classmate.

Illinois Poet Laureate Angela Jackson shares a poem she wrote sparked by a childhood memory — but she didn't let reality get ...

In an acrostic poem, the first letter of each line spells a word. The word is the subject of the poem. She really really likes stars. But this is no ordinary poem. This is an acrostic. So there is ...