The examination table was uncomfortable but Hannah didn’t care. In fact, she half hoped the doctor would be called away, not for an emergency – she wouldn’t wish a life-changing event on anyone – but to deal with a minor mishap. While he played hero, she’d be more than happy to nap. But there was …
Prelude He watches as she discreetly tips whiskey from her flask into a pint glass full of Coke. She sees him looking and blushes. Raises a violent red fingernail, nibbled at the tip, to her lips. He nods. Feels his heart rise up to claw at his throat. Let me out, it says. For Christ’s …
Six Ways to Start Something, and Five to End it by Rachel O’Cleary Read More »
Step right up and invent an enemy. Tell him about it. Tell him how you feel now, like marshmallow wrapped in bacon. Tell him about the sea, your flooded home, the jetty with two sail boats that honeymooners hire to go out and anchor in the middle of the waters. Tell him about the markets …
The Lyrics of a Thunderstorm by Mandira Pattnaik Read More »
We want something that isn’t this sofa. I want to shift the haze of this past year. You want something more than the huff of the too small desk fan oscillating in our faces. The loose weave of the cushions imprinted into our bare backs is a map. As we imagine our travels, I track …
My best friend was mad at me after the sixteenth birthday party we threw for her the night before Halloween, where I let a guy finger me for the first time in her mom’s salon chair where she cut people’s hair from home. (It was good, no one was saying it wasn’t enjoyable, but I …
God Lives in a Birdhouse in the Redwood Forest by Shannon Layne Read More »
She knew by the look on his face that he had returned from wherever he’d travelled to this time. Finally found his way home. He pulled the saline drip from his hand and smiled up at her, ‘Hi. How long have I been gone?’ She shrugged. Hated that these returns always made her behave like …
I will tie you tight, my love. Did you know it was me, when I knocked on your door? I think you must have. You wouldn’t have invited any woman in off of the road, would you? You stood in the doorway, skin soft and white as cotton, and said, “What beautiful wares you have. …
Bodice Laces in All Colors by Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick Read More »
She’s building a baby. Scooping the beach with busy hands. Limpet shell eyes, driftwood splinter buzzcut. Seaweed nappy wrapped tight. You stare anywhere but down. Watch a sandpiper in the foam, the pier reaching out in its empty-armed embrace. You taste salt. ‘You don’t like it?’ ‘Sand in my eye,’ you lie. The world wavers …
I carry it everywhere I go, brim-full of loved things. It totes a waterfall on the Isle of Skye, lit with the thinnest crack of sunshine through clouds that lifted late in the day. It is thick with the sound of laughter in different languages: arf arf, hee hee hee, hard to remember where one …
Walking the streets, alone, I notice that it is the old people who now wear the T-shirts of my analog youth, and I can only come to the conclusion that what was my youth was theirs as well, and am left to wonder, on occasion, and aloud, how the fuck did this happen? I tell …
Swallow – new beginnings He told her he created sculptures from the tiny bones of birds. A skeletal artist with downy hair manipulating goldcrest-sized tweezers. She told him he could stroke her avian-like cheekbones. Trace her fine framework with his claw-clasp fingers. Mandarin duck – harmony He told her their love was bone-deep. Birds of …
Bad to the Bone: A Guide to Ornithology Feng Shui by Cheryl Markosky Read More »
With innocent abandon, Angela, one-year-old, plays with her pizza while Eli disappears his fourth slice in three bites, washing down the bolus of bread and cheese with undiluted vodka, making a show of wincing manfully at the burn. Miranda won’t be home from the hospital until morning. It’s been weeks since she’s worked an overnight …