by Lee Patton “Annalise! Dinner’s getting cold!” her mother’s voice shot upstairs, breaking through the faint, droning hum of the lamp nearby. Unresponsive, Annalise sat motionless, comatose, in front of the easel, her blank stare rivaled only by the canvas languishing in front of her. Her dark green eyes glazed…
by Jasmine Janelle Royer I remember puberty.She was a foe at 11;ripped open the seamsthat held my shameand let it loose;ferocious and starving.Red like wineas it clawed its wayfrom my nethers to belowmy thighs, stained flesh.Followed by the wideningof my hips into canyons,the fullness of my lipsleft a plenty, for my…
by Michele L Tremblay They often did this and they were here again: falling on to the remnants of some long-forgotten road that led into dark and dense woods. As always, they didn’t know how they got there and they weren’t sure how they would get back. She imagined how…
by Lucia Cherciu Which good deeds count?What do we list on the professional development form at the gate?When I garden and collect slugs is that cruelty?You don’t have to gloat. I am researching if you can eat bindweedbecause it keeps coming upamong the broccoli.It turns out you can eat it, but…
By Crystal Jordan The moon loomed big and bright over the old Victorian mansion on Beeker Street. The light from the full moon bounced off the sharp angles of the building, throwing long, eerie shadows over the freshly manicured lawn. Ezra Ward gazed up at his new house through the…
by Jasmine Janelle Royer I wonder if the Father Cardinal pondered death upon his encumbered flight- laden with sorrow like the gold of a king-back to his mother‘s nest after allhis years of rearing to winged babes;which one could not forget, a heavy plight. If the pain fluctuated like a…
by Rosalind Goldsmith She teased up the ruff of the teddy bear so the starched frills stood out like a strange white shrub around its head. It was a comforting little toy with shiny glass eyes and a sweet knitted smile under a button nose. You could move the arms…
by Kenneth Bell A group of orcs rallied in front of a food bank. Some of them hoisted up picket signs that read “Meat is Murder” as they protested and roared to all within earshot. Others carried signs with graphic depictions of bloodied and severed limbs. The group formed a…
by Allison Cross I was planted on the day you were born. Cerulean blue etched the clouds, contrails slashed it through. A breeze brushed against spring. My roots were a tangled, constricted ball, and it hurt when your father plunged me in the hole. When he piled the soil around…
by Birgit Lennertz Sarrimanolis In January the mercury plummeted well below zero. The frozen world remained in a still, crackling, almost surreal state for some time. Hoarfrost hung thickly on the stark branches of trees, fuzzy and soft-looking in the crisp, clear air. In the living room, beside the crackling…