SCOTT BURNAM: Sowing Seeds

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

“Click only images of feathers. Let other images scroll by.” Days reviewing parading pictures motivated me to mischief: I welcomed flowers, fish, and knives to pollute the data set. If our human minds must suffer uncertainty, confusion, and (like me) early onset dementia, artificial intelligence should suffer from them, too.

Scott Burnam’s ongoing creative acts include composing poetry, writing microfiction, and taking Instax photos. He spends some of his free time as a submissions reader for Bodega Magazine and stewards Little Free Libraries with his wife and youngest son in Phoenix, AZ.

KARLIE TAYLOR: Empathy and an Empty Lot

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

On a midnight drive, we passed by the hand-painted sign, standing on the lot where the old Lutheran church used to be. You asked me about my faith and I found I could give you no sufficient answer. “Tell me,” you pried, “do you imagine His hands nail-scarred, or shaking?”

Karlie Taylor is a writer and a high school English teacher. Her work is published on various online platforms.

BRENDA LEE CARLSON: I’m a Writer

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

I love being ejected from coffee shops for staying past my welcome. So, I pour the brandy generously into my coffee from my flask. When I take a sip, I sigh, then open my laptop, calling myself a writer. The manager opens his flip phone and calls himself the police.

Brenda Lee Carlson is a writer from Minnesota. She has an MA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing. She’s devouring YA novels and collecting The Phantom of the Opera memorabilia when not building libraries for those in need.

CHARITY ORRISON: Sonder

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Wind had whipped her red curls up into a frenzy. I watched with contained amusement as a gust lifted the full mane of hair into a thought bubble. Slender gloved hands flew out of coat pockets to tame it back down. As she passed I considered saying hello, but didn’t.

Charity lives in Denver, Colorado with a husband and a Siamese cat.

KELLY DWYER: While She Slept

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

She awakened bleeding and sore
from where half the men
in the kingdom
had passed through Godmother’s
brambles, and then had pricked
her while she’d slept
until her prince came—
satisfied, dashing,
sword drawn—
but too late to do any good,
and gave Aurora
one more kiss
she didn’t want.

Kelly Dwyer’s third novel, GHOST MOTHER, will be published by Union Square & Co. In August 2024. Her flash fiction is often inspired by her imaginings of the Disney Princesses at middle age. Say hello at KellyDwyerAuthor.com.

ROBERTA BEACH JACOBSON: Nuts!

Submissions, Touching, , ,

Every December, our family’s dining table centerpiece was a bowl of nuts, emptied long before Christmas. From almonds to walnuts, we each claimed favorites. I devoured the pecans. On her deathbed, Mom whispered to me, “I always adored pecans.”

Roberta Beach Jacobson is the author of Demitasse Fiction: One-Minute Reads for Busy People (Alien Buddha Press, 2023).

ELYSE RIBBONS: Snowbirding

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

First time as a snowbird. Hadn’t expected to feel the rip and pull of my roots so intensely. How can a bird have roots? Well, I do. And now I don’t. But my wings have spread, and the warmth is seeping in. Welcoming in that winter sunshine with a sigh.

Elyse Ribbons is an American author and playwright formerly based in Chengdu, China, but currently snowbirding in Florida. With an MFA in Peking Opera and a graduate of the Stanford GSB, she has a wide variety of interests and experiences. She publishes work in both English and Chinese.

MICHELLE WILSON: The Shape Shifter at 50

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

For his workaholic wife, he’d become a coffee maker, pillows, the soothing sound of rain.

The girls knew him as a tricycle, pastry chef, fairy tales.

Wife gone, kids flown, rather than shift into an empty nest, he took up writing, went for walks, and baked himself a birthday cake.

Michelle Wilson’s words have appeared in A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Rejection Letters, Potato Soup Journal’s Best of 2021 Anthology, Maudlin House, Litro Magazine, The Drabble, 50-Word Stories, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, among others. Her story ‘Fish Brain’ was nominated for Best of the Net 2022. She lives with her partner in Miami Beach, Florida.

CAROL REEVES: Shifting Tides

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

It caught her by surprise.

Just yesterday, she was the nucleus of the family. They’d gather from afar for holidays, united by childhood memories, eager to share their new lives. Today, those cherished traditions are folding into new traditions for new families.

Life moves on—as, of course, it should.

A prolific writer, Carol Reeves is loving the freedom and challenges of 50-word stories. Her memoir, “All the Little Miracles,” was published last year. She often writes of the privilege and vicissitudes of aging, a subject she knows well.