A man on the bus tells me I’m pretty. Two weeks later, a note. He’s sorry about the comment. His wife is an alcoholic, his daughter is dead, I look just like her. I don’t see him again for the rest of sixth grade, but I do see his daughter.
Nicky DeMarie is a writer and musician based out of New York City. She is currently a student at The New School, and working towards her first novel.
It has rained today
It is raining lightly now
Sitting on the front porch
I smell sweet wood burning
The wind has picked up
The drops are falling slanted
A driveway puddle is growing
I notice it is cooler
Covering up with a blanket
I listen as my rocker complains
Dan Johnson was born in California and grew up in Illinois. Now retired, he spent over twenty years as a high school physics teacher and school administrator who also loved writing poetry.
The morning moon blots against the blue sky like a thumbprint dipped in milk. A strange, off-kilter day. Grandma Lil in her kitchen sipping peyote tea. She still had a stash from that lost year in Mexico. Some bad trips. Numbs her headaches. Visions of Lucy in trouble are clear.
Nina Welch’s short stories appear in Literally Stories online anthology in February and March, 2024. Her poetry appeared in Rats Ass Review, Aaduna Press for National Poetry Month, Girls on Film, Fandango 8 Poetry, and Fandango 8 Poetry and Short Stories. She was awarded first place at the University of Arizona’s Academy of American Poets competition judged by esteemed poet Carl Dennis. She lives in San Clemente, California and is a contributing writer for the San Clemente Journal.
Today is the day of the dead. Not the Dia de los Muertos holiday, but the anniversary of the day I died. See the white cross at the curve up ahead? It’s mine. The faded rainbow of plastic flowers? Mine, too.
Wait, there’s something new. A stuffed unicorn! Someone remembered!
Rita Riebel Mitchell writes in the Pinelands of South Jersey. Her work appears in Flash Fiction Magazine, Versification, 101 Words, and others. Read more at RitaRiebelMitchell.com.
The story of the week for April 15 to 19 is…
Legacy by Cate Covert
I wish I could explain it; I don’t really understand it. But I know it’s true that it is all my fault. All the trouble I’ve created. I never have understood my own strength. I just can’t stop: it is who I am, what I do. I am truly sorry.
Robert Ludemann is happily retired and at his desk writing.
Sister apple trees, one fuller than the other, transform to white confections every May.
Tirelessly, bees buzz from bloom to bloom. A long rain nourishes roots and hidden tendrils.
Infant fruit withstands wind, insect borers, and waterless days.
Freckled young apples grow, blush pale red, ripen, ready to be eaten.
Deborah lives and writes in northwestern Montana. Her stories can be read in The Ekphrastic Review, Thin Air Magazine (Online) and The Potato Soup Journal among others.
Under a Saturday sun in the church parking lot, a poet behind the mic says, “I had brain surgery seven days ago. Buy my chapbook and I’ll show you my scar.” Weaving through the dwindling crowd, I approach with a ten and glimpse jagged line breaks on every beautiful page.
Guy Biederman lives on a houseboat, serves as valet to a dainty Tuxedo, and writes during catnaps which are short but fortunately frequent.
Two robots fell madly in love, made possible by their companionship modulators degrading. They wanted a child, so they took mechanisms from each of their bodies and built a Smallbot. Each year, they added more pieces. Over time they gave their child everything, down to their last nut and bolt.
This is Jared’s second 50-word story. He is not a robot parent… or is he?
A biggish spider
dangling from a forgotten corner of the porch
suspended, dead, by its web,
endured the harsh Winter winds
and blowing rains of impending Spring.
It died in Autumn,
with legs curled to its abdomen,
fluttering at the end of its enduring silk,
looking remarkably like star anise.
Cate Covert has been regaling friends and family with her tall tales since she could talk. She loves engaging with her reading audiences. Her poetry, flash fiction, and humorous stories reside at Cate Covert on Chadashah.org and her Inspirational essays and bible studies at Pastora Cate’s Corner on Substack.