Lisa Thornton

@thorntonforreal.bsky.social

5179 Followers 5059 Following

Writer, school nurse. Midwestern. Stories in SmokeLong Quarterly, Wild Roof Journal, Cincinnati Review+. Pushcart, Best Small Fictions & BotN noms. Editor @jmww. Sucker for a good barn. lisathorntonwriter.com 🚫🧊

A pink hosta flower covered with raindrops
Meredith Salenger and her wolf in The Journey of Natty Gann
A collage of black and white family photos
The dust jacket for The Secret Garden with a drawing of little Mary peeking thru a door covered with ivy
The title page of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden
A red polka dotted balloon stuck in some grass next to a soybean field and, upon closer inspection, a heron and another large bird in flight in the distance
A group of tall pink flowers with yellow insides
Trees alongside a lake reflected in the water
A page from Time Life’s The Cooking of Italy showing a woman in a dress sitting in a doorway tying up tomatoes to dry. Above her, groups of red tomatoes hang on a stone wall drying.
A copy of Survival Skills by Elizabeth Rosen at Wrigley Field where the Cubs and playing the Dodgers
A tall stalk with multiple bright red petals
A grassy path leading into a soybean field
A pile of red Roma tomatoes on a wood table
A black and white photo of a young man in a cotton tank top lying in the grass with a laughing baby boy
Four old phones with no dials
A collection of push button telephones in a glass case
A painting of women and children in a small boat on water with bright orange flowers with one man in white in the middle, the oarsman in the back, and two men to the left-one with a wide sun hat
The cover of Songs from the Blimp Ruins by Pat Foran on a hardwood floor
A painting of a woman naked with blue and purple swirly designs on her skin sitting cross legged with her hands raised in front of a temple with baskets around her and birds in the air
A painting by José Esquivel called Elenita Cruz’s World at the National Museum of Mexican Art of an older woman in a collage style with painted on buttons, heart, diablo, and angels
A street mural of a man playing an accordion wearing a black suit with a black hat and black mustache
A deeply purple petunia
A color photo of an older person with a hat on bent over in a field with a pick axe in one hand, the other pulling a green vegetable from the ground
A painting of a white horse head poking out of a painting of a window on a brick wall
A tomato plant with a few green tomatoes dripping with water
A picture of me and my husband on our wedding day with me wearing his cowboy hat and grinning at each other
A collage with a postcard of a lake and some trees, text from an old book, black and white photos of some people outside, and shells from a Wisconsin lake.
A collage of photos and postcards, lists and library book stamps and film negatives.
A green, hardcover copy of The Wise Garden Encyclopedia on a wooden floor
A glowing pink cloud at sunset over a country road with the tip of a house to the left
A paved road stretching into the distance with cornfields on both sides and a power line next to it
A red wall with a window in the middle that has a lit, red neon OPEN sign in it and is half reflecting a power line and wires from across the street
My sneakered feet next to a marble plaque in the sidewalk that says “Joe’s Diner.”
A view of a tree-covered mountain out an old paned window in front of a writing desk
A wooden sign marking the Appalachian Trail going south in a grassy field with trees in the distance
A turn in the Hoosic River with a sandy beach and green trees surrounding that would make a perfect swimming hole
An oil painting of a ship in rocking waves but the boat EXISTS IN 3D and is lashed to the canvas in the middle of the storm which is also splattered with white paint which makes it look like the reflection of stars on the water
A white barn behind a stone wall at the Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH
A framed poster of Smokey the Bear with the words Repeat after me, “Only you…”
A mountain vista with pine trees and a wooden fence in the foreground
The sun setting over a large body of water with pine trees on the left and right and small silhouetted me snapping a photo
An Acadian flag painted shell hanging from a tree with ferns below
A red fire hydrant in front of a rock wall on a green lawn strangely close to a sign with a picture of a red fire hydrant on it
A rocky shoreline with a white lighthouse in the distance and wildflowers in the foreground
A lichen-y gravestone close-up with words carved in that are difficult to read with age. Dates appear to be from the 1700s.
Walden Pond looking peaceful in the early morning with the sun lighting up a sandy bar on the left and green trees on the other side of the water
A small body of water surrounded by green trees and brush and reflecting those and bits of blue sky
Looking out an an old paned window with wooden shutters and a rock sill onto green grass with a white fence and a red barn
Chopped fennel bulbs on a wood cutting board with a knife to the side
A lake with trees along the edges and blue sky above with a few white clouds
Into the World There Came a Soul Called Ida, painting by Ivan Albright of an older woman seated at a dressing table holding a hand mirror and looking exhausted and like she doesn't know what to do with her aging body when in fact she looks beautiful and perfect.
The grill of a 1949 Packard sparkling in the sun next to a maple tree
A cream colored mushroom growing in the grass
Cover of a paperback copy of “The Shipping News” by E. Annie Proulx on a sofa with a log pillow
A bathroom with yellow doors and white sinks lined up in a row looking all liminal and strange
A short video of fireflies in an almost dark cornfield
A paved road stretching into the distance with a green field on either side and a small tree on the left
A bizarrely curved cloud, much like a hand that would cover a bug to shield it from light or rain, hovering over a farm with a dark sky behind it
A plastic rain gauge attached to a chain link fence with 4.5 inches of rain in it
A road coming to a T with a power line in the distance and a low lying cloud raining in only one far away spot