Nutcracker blasts. My bills bloat. Family demands gifts.
I get replaced at work. They use buzzwords. Streamlining. New direction.
One day, I walk past a poster festooned with a smiling stock family and CELEBRATE in huge block letters.
I ravage it. Leave only disembodied eyes, torn smiles.
This is truth.

Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA fiction program. His stories “Soon,” “How To Be A Good Episcopalian,” “Tales From A Communion Line,” and “Community Time” have been nominated for Pushcarts. Yash’s work has been published in SmokeLong Quarterly, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Write City Magazine, and Ariel Chart, among others.