My Writing


Visiting Norman – creative nonfiction

The Mt. Auburn cemetery was much larger than I’d expected. The town itself had practically become a ghost town over the years, as if its very mission were to empty its houses year upon year, feeding the cemetery until all the residents resided on that quiet patch of land.

I parked at the top of the hill and stood beside my car surveying the gravestones that surrounded me, hundreds of granite markers precisely lined up, silent and serious as soldiers in formation. The grass was long, in desperate need of mowing, and still wet from the night before. Which way to go?

“You’ll have to help me out here, Norman” I said out loud.

Read more here: https://www.backchannelsjournal.net/shirley-hilton-1


Divorce – a short short story

Read it here: https://brieflywrite.com/2020/09/05/divorce-shirley-hilton/


Earthquake, Mexico City 1985 – poetry

A pantoum is composed of four-line stanzas in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza. Read it here: https://www.backchannelsjournal.net/shirley-hilton-earthquake-2


The Other Side – poetry

On election day 2020 Rattle Poetry featured my poem The Other Side. Read it here: https://www.rattle.com/the-other-side-by-shirley-hilton/


Remembering Marvin – poetry

In memory of Marvin Bell: https://backchannelsjournal.net/edition-no-7-winter-2020-2021/shirley-hilton-poem/


Inheritance – poetry

Published in Nixes Mate, winter 2021: https://nixesmate.pub/issue-18-winter-2021/?fbclid=IwAR0Dx39eUApEDOfeVmQSm2fAm3a2qbw4jBmFSbhRWHG8Wj0IaFRaa-7pn0k#inheritance-shirley-hilton


Your Place in the World – nonfiction

Published in Backchannels winter 2022: https://backchannelsjournal.net/edition-10-winter-2022/shirley-hilton-your-place-in-the-world-10/


Pelicans – poetry

Published in Delmarva Review volume 14, and republished on the spy network winter 2022: https://cambridgespy.org/2022/03/19/delmarva-review-pelicans-by-shirley-hilton/


The Other Acapulco – Commentary

Published in Contrary Magazine, journal of unpopular discontent April 2022: https://contrarymagazine.com/2022/the-other-acapulco/


Marina Arena

Original Composition by Ryan Middagh with lyrics by Shirley Hilton: https://www.ijazzmusic.com/products/marina-arena


Two Poems: Risk and Hunger

Evening Street Review Issue #34 Summer 2022 online now. My poems Risk and Hunger are on pages 122-123. https://eveningstreetpress.com/product/evening-street-review-number-34-summer-2022/