It is an old story: a church-going family man receives a violent call to become a prophet. He's read the source material, knows how this has ended for others. But without a means of running away, he reluctantly accepts a vocation he rightly fears will result in tragedy for his family. While receiving dreams and visions, delivering sermons and prayers, frequenting political protests and police stations, being placed in handcuffs and straitjackets, the prophet attempts to speak truth to powe...

The Winter 2020-21 Issue. Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature, and now provides readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in a variety of formats. Find out why the New York Times named Ploughshares “the Triton among minnows.”The Winter 2020-21 Issue, edited by Editor-in-chief Ladette Randolph and Poetry Editor John Skoyles, features poetry an...