Poetry No. 62 – Dimitri Reyes
On every counter and beside
the entertainment center,
space is claimed by little wings plucking harps.
Trumpets leading
an unknown charge of credit cards. Continue reading Poetry No. 62 – Dimitri Reyes
Category: Volume 8 2021
Stories No. 90 – Feng Gooi
A stranger called and I picked up my phone.
“Hello, how are you doing today?” said the voice from the other end. The voice belonged to a woman, an older woman. It was deep and luxurious, a perfect balance of grace and authority. Just from that simple hello, I could hear the weight of experience, a lifetime of training in forming the perfect first impression.
Flash No. 26 – Jannitt Ark
Before I met you, we went to the same party, but I don’t remember seeing you there. I like to pretend I was strangely compelled by the sight of you staggering around in a threadbare coat and loosened tie, your lips red from the bottle of wine you clutched, its green neck peeking halfway out of a paper bag. Continue reading Flash No. 26 – Jannitt Ark
Flash No. 25 – Jason Arment
A car’s life can be hard to imagine, but maybe not so difficult when the automobile comes back home one last time. Like most objects in the physical universe we occupy, it’s not hard to see when a car is going to wear out. Continue reading Flash No. 25 – Jason Arment
Flash No. 24 – Lúa Margita Brau
There once was a girl who lived in a little house in a pine wood. The pines were tall and thick with needles, and above them was a clear deep blue sky with large white clouds in it, solid-seeming white clouds that moved swiftly on a brisk wind, like boats on their way to some place or another. Continue reading Flash No. 24 – Lúa Margita Brau
Stories No. 89 – Jeanne Althouse
Lena was raised on violin lessons and minimal parental supervision. Maestro Ludwig, her first violin teacher, was spiritually her only family. After early morning lessons, before she went off to school, they liked to relax together on the cool sheets of his unmade bed in his private studio in the Hyatt Regency, her violin lying between them. They smelled plumeria and coconut-scented sunscreen lotion from Kaanapali Beach through the one open window. Continue reading Stories No. 89 – Jeanne Althouse
Flash No. 23 – Rich Ives
I cannot rehearse the pathways of smoke, but I spend my entire life on the journey, my one particular part, small, wingless, and flattened. You would not guess it when meeting me alone and my host can be nearly gone, emaciated. I place my eggs upon her hair. But there’s a second host and more further south. I could migrate and release my benefactor. I could trade in my habitat. But in this way deceptive birds might find me sailing. Continue reading Flash No. 23 – Rich Ives
Stories No. 88 – Elinol López
They offered me a job at the clinic near my house, and I took It because I had to keep up with rent while mami visited home country to nurse her mama for three months. I did not mind that It was a graveyard shift since the place was just a few bus stops away. My task was to receive packages and log their arrival in a binder. The delivery men wore khaki overalls and never spoke. As of now, those are the facts I can recall. Continue reading Stories No. 88 – Elinol López
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Flash No. 22 – Richard Krause
Penn State University would periodically send down these studies on dairy cows. The farmers would have to implement them whether they liked it or not, but it was always the cause of ridicule, of mockery, that the scientists at Penn State hadn’t gotten close to the udders of a single cow, had never been kicked by one, never saw the mastitis their directives were meant to clear up,… Continue reading Flash No. 22 – Richard Krause
Flash No. 21 – Josh Dale
You go to flip the omelet over, and it breaks. Ever so gently a turn, like you always do, and it still breaks. The innards are exposed. The eggs will continue to harden and soon burn. Continue reading Flash No. 21 – Josh Dale
Flash No. 20 – KP Vogell
The author confesses that this story has been written entirely by mistake. It begins with the mistake of an alarm clock opening and keeps piling them on: a stereotypical main character, a two-dimensional significant other, an unconvincing villain. Continue reading Flash No. 20 – KP Vogell
Stories No. 87 – T. B. Grennan
And then, slow as you like, Fernando reaches back and peels his cheeks apart. Staring over one shoulder, his lips wet from kissing, his hair still perfect despite all that rolling around.
#Erotica Continue reading Stories No. 87 – T. B. Grennan
Stories No. 86 – John Francis Istel
“How many candles do you see? Mother? How many? Can you see how many? Sit up. It’s your daughter Eve. Count, Mother. There are 69.” Continue reading Stories No. 86 – John Francis Istel
Flash No. 19 – JP Infante
In a brothel outside of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, an English archaeologist finds a clay tablet with Latin writings. After careful study, historians believe it is the reproduction of a letter written by John the Apostle. Continue reading Flash No. 19 – JP Infante
Flash No. 18 – Denise Tolan
Read the Medication Guide that comes with AMBIEN before you begin taking the pill, or unless you can’t sleep. Which is ironic. Continue reading Flash No. 18 – Denise Tolan
Flash No. 17 – Sue Mell
I am folding my mom’s fancy clothes. Bright patterned dresses and diaphanous floral blouses from Bloomingdale’s. Bespoke wool pants, now impossibly baggy, from a shop on Madison. All the finery she once wore to Broadway plays and opera at the Met, to museums and lunches at upscale Manhattan restaurants. Continue reading Flash No. 17 – Sue Mell
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Stories No. 85 – Mario Duarte
“Monkeys, time to go!” Papi yells in his firm but gravelly voice. I lag behind at the end of the K-Mart checkout counter, eyeing the Mars candy bars. Aleta, my younger sister, kicks my heels. I trudge forward almost bumping into a white woman pushing a cart who suddenly stops after hearing Papi. Her lips stretch into a worldwide oval, ruby red lipstick smeared on her cigarette-stained teeth. Continue reading Stories No. 85 – Mario Duarte
Hybrid No. 1 – Emma Eisler
You are no earth-bound love
Spoke the girl to the God of the Sun. Continue reading Hybrid No. 1 – Emma Eisler
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Poetry No. 61 – Sarah Payne
Three Poems by Sarah Payne Dead Hildegard In the world of my body’s time, to be illuminated meant to be lighted by fire only The candle of the sun igniting and extinguishing each day: how perpetual these orbs You began to go astray when you spoke your first lie against what you knew O body, said the light Say these things now Hildegard on the … Continue reading Poetry No. 61 – Sarah Payne
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Stories No. 84 – C. Adán Cabrera
Lorenzo Rivas stirred a seventh packet of sugar into his coffee. He wondered how much of his twelve-minute break he’d spent staring at the barista’s arm. Continue reading Stories No. 84 – C. Adán Cabrera
Community No. 65
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce prose and poetry by Andrew Rihn, Ben Umayam, and Chris Vola. Andrew Rihn The Pugilist #15: Rocky and Catholic Meatmaking “I’ve seen the movie Rocky, I don’t know, like a hundred times. (OK not really, but still a lot.) Despite the repeated viewings, there are two scenes I always misremember…” Into the VoidNovember 15, 2020 ———————- The Pugilist #18: … Continue reading Community No. 65
Community No. 64
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce prose and poetry by Christie Cochrell and Alex Wells Shapiro. Christie Cochrell Death in Tesuque “My father and I left Tesuque on Monday as soon as it got light. So when they found the body in the swimming pool later that morning, strangled and ingloriously dead, they guessed we’d had something to do with it…” Fiction on … Continue reading Community No. 64
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Flash No. 16 – Taylor V. Card
One day (which we must all understand to mean many years ago now) a girl in her mother’s kitchen cuts a lock of her shiny hair, sets it in resin, and promises to live forever. When she is ninety-three and dying, she calls grey loved ones into the room to give these instructions: Continue reading Flash No. 16 – Taylor V. Card
Community No. 63
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce poetry and prose by Juan Wynn, Jr. and Jeanne Althouse. Juan Wynn, Jr. For All the Half-Children “The first time someone referred to you as my half-brother…” ———————- Portrait of Enduring Love as a Seasonal Haircut “Two years ago, my mother tradedthick ropes of kite string dreadsfor an afro cloud of frost…” ———————- When You Hum, I’m … Continue reading Community No. 63
Community No. 62
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce poetry and prose by Lucia Orellana Damacela and Andi Boyd. Lucia Orellana Damacela Sifting “a remote control morning. baking shows. digitized feelings. cyber social distance. video-called closeness. the screen the new skin. some earrings and a navy sweater over pjs an ensemble…” PankAugust 11, 2020 ———————- At Sea “The boat tremblesas if it has seen an old … Continue reading Community No. 62
Community No. 61
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce prose and poetry by Denise Tolan and by Zoë Biggs. Denise Tolan Mercury Rising “I see my dead father from time to time. He drives through our old neighborhood in a late model Mercury;…” Crack the SpineMay 20, 2020 ———————- Thank a Bad Girl “There are, of course, bad girls. Bad girls who open wide for a Xanax … Continue reading Community No. 61
Community No. 60
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce poetry and prose by Kathy Kremins and Merridawn Duckler. Kathy Kremins Blowing That Trumpet Like Miles “Full moon on Friday the 13th radiated circles of light like the slowly slapping waves of a low Jersey tide, luminous white, a queen wearing a crown…” The Night Heron BarksSummer 2020 Merridawn Duckler First Patty, then Others “We had never … Continue reading Community No. 60
Community No. 59
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce prose by Bob MacKenzie and Jon Shorr. Bob MacKenzie In the Midst of Things “in empty streets of locked doorsshuttered windows and the deadbodies on flatbeds to be buried…” Poetry and COVIDNovember 16, 2020 ———————- Amy “Sandy is in the living room; the sitting room, as her mother so quaintly insists on calling it. This had been … Continue reading Community No. 59
Community No. 58
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce poetry by Summer J. Hart and prose by Jim Ross. Summer J. Hart Boy Crazy “Nadine belongs to an owl now. They imprinted while I was on vacation. I scowl at my hot pink crop-top & try to pull it down over my belly button. Boy Crazy is printed in puff letters across my chest…” WaxwingFebruary 15, 2020 ———————- … Continue reading Community No. 58
Community No. 57
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce prose by C. Adán Cabrera and Jenny Shank. C. Adán Cabrera A Working Class Prayer “for my father, who wakes up in the dark, and who through storm or errant sickness must still ferry strangers to whomever may be waiting for them on the other side…” 433 MagazineMay 2020 ———————- La Siguanaba “The way the story goes, … Continue reading Community No. 57
Community No. 56
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce stories and poetry by Steve Henn and D. E. Fulford. Steve Henn Are You Picking Up What I’m Putting Down / Elegy for my friend April, Gone these 20 years “My GF tells meher new friend likes to lift I say I prefer to put down.Not to criticize your fitness…“ The Broadkill ReviewSeptember 2020 ———————- a Small … Continue reading Community No. 56
Community No. 55
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce poetry by henry 7. reneau, jr. and stories by Andrew Stancek. henry 7. reneau, jr. Who speak Sass like Scripture? “Who the outside agitator…” Superstition ReviewDecember 1, 2020 ———————- Every Angry Black Man Could Give A Fuck About Post-Racial Politically Correct Rhetoric. That Is The Same Lie Willie Lynch Used To Chain The Minds Of Slaves. “The … Continue reading Community No. 55
Community No. 54
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce stories by Annie Dawid and Tony Press. Annie Dawid The Closer You Were, the Less You Knew “When Jules drops Ina off for the procedure, he kisses her deeply, embarrassingly, in the back of the cab and says, “Last time I caress the dear old face of the dear old gal I married.” SequestrumSpring 2020 ———————- Sacred … Continue reading Community No. 54
Community No. 53
In today’s Community, we are honored to re-introduce stories by Paul Beckman and Ann Graham. Paul Beckman Scrub-a-Dub-Dub “It’s a quarter of seven and time to put Henry to bed or my daughter will be all over my case and blame me if he’s late getting up in the morning and cranky from lack of sleep and he only wants to watch the end of … Continue reading Community No. 53
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Patrice Sullivan, Artist Spotlight No. 36
ARTIST STATEMENT The figure is the embodiment of the human experience. It is the site of courage, joy, and love, of compassion, fear, and pain, of struggle, loneliness, and frustration, of sorrow, of loss. As a narrative, figurative painter, I use the figure to depict these universal emotions. A narrative is time captured in a moment. The synthesis of the photographic and the painted image, … Continue reading Patrice Sullivan, Artist Spotlight No. 36
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Heather Marie Scholl, Artist Spotlight No. 35
ARTIST STATEMENT Through the intimate lens of my own life I examine issues of race and whiteness, gender and sexuality, trauma and abuse. I have been transfixed with how to create a visceral understanding of experience through objects. Creating objects and environments that conjure connections to the past from family histories, colonial legacies to religious traditions. Using the materiality of craft as a mode of … Continue reading Heather Marie Scholl, Artist Spotlight No. 35