MICHELLE DINNICK: Back and Forth

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , , ,

“Only what I can put in my backpack.”

They ask for their Lego.

I hang a bag from each handle bar… Throws my balance off a little, but I can manage.
I can only make a few more trips before I have to make dinner.
Thank goodness it’s not far.

Michelle Dinnick really enjoys writing micro-fiction, often inspired by personal experience. Sometimes she writes longer pieces as well. She has been published in the Globe and Mail, and Chicken Soup for the Soul; and won several writing and poetry awards. You can find her online at: fiftywordstories.com, commuterlit.com, and femininecollective.com.

GABRIEL TIGAY: Village Down Below

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Old and wizened, I stare down at my village as though through a jeweler’s loupe. Pink geraniums, moody velvet fuschia, and bigleaf hydrangeas peeking like incredulous heads begem the pathways that glow gold in the evening light. I have done good in my lifetime, but it has come too late.

Gabriel Tigay lives in New York City.

BOB THURBER: Overdue & Outstanding Beauty

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, ,

She apologized for being cranky, said she’d been up half the night repairing her heart, patching with duct tape and popsicle sticks, said she’d get me the back rent soon as she could find work, asked me to take her boyfriend’s name off the mailbox. Ex-boyfriend, she stressed and smiled.

Bob Thurber is the author of six books. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

SAM VAN DER LUGT: Stone

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

We visited you today. I think she’s too young to understand. She asked me if you turned into a stone.

“Kind of,” I said.

“Why a gray stone?” she asked. “Why not blue or orange or purplegreen?”

I shrugged.

She thought you should have at least dressed up a little.

Sam van der Lugt is a writer and anthropologist based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He’s working on some short stories and a PhD thesis. Sometimes, he wonders what to do with all of this existence.

COLLETTE NIGHT: After the fire left

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

Bitter smoke clings to the rafters.
The corrugated shed is but a skeleton, creaking in the breeze.
Embers crackle hungrily in the paddocks, sending ashes dancing like butterflies in spring.
Beneath cracked soil, seeds awake.
Soon new life will sprout and the fire will linger only as a painful memory.

Collette Night is an Australian writer who crafts lyrical prose with bite, often circling themes of healing, memory, and the uncarved future. Her work seeks to take you elsewhere as you read—even if only for a moment. She has appeared in Starry Eyed Press and The Riot Collective, with forthcoming work in Trembling with Fear and Black Hare Press.

DAVID RAE: Echoes

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

Lucky I love the sound of my own voice. Echoing, Echoing, Echoing. Lucky I love the sound of my own voice. Echoing of bare walls. Echoing. Echoing. Echoing. Lucky I love the sound of my own voice. No one listening. Listening. Lucky I. Echoing. Echoing. Lucky me. Lucky

David loves the sound of his own voice, but also the voices of his wife, children and grandchildren.

MARK LI: And When Did You Last See Your Father?

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

I bite my lips: my father, bold, drank Jack in the yard, watered grass with his spit, bit heads off flowers he never planted, and loved those movies where the geezer’s still got a chance, but yet last week he still laughed—so that’s all I mutter: I don’t know.

The only thing that Mark Li (@markliterary) loves more than wandering museums is getting lost in one. However, he laments, the Mona Lisa doesn’t make very good conversation.

BRYONY LORIMER: Peer Pressure

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

First day of school, jostling for position at the bus stop.

Rory’s acting cocky. Just back from Canada, he’s sporting a new puffa jacket. Superior filling, not the polyester of his peers.

The bus arrives and they swarm towards the open doors.

POP goes Rory’s jacket, and goose feathers fly.

Bryony Lorimer is a Scottish writer living in Edmonton, Alberta. Her work has appeared in Capital City Press Anthology (a project of the Edmonton Public Library) and is forthcoming in DarkWinter Literary Magazine.

SARA KATE EGAN: Mugs Making Memories

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Our favorite fall teas, elegant tin. I excitedly open this year’s edition, nostalgia steeping strongly.

Spiced orange warms when we’re chilly, sleepy herbal for cozy nights in. Mystery blend which always intrigues us, berry green with hearty meals.

Robust Irish black, his daily favorite. Even on his very last day.

Sara Kate Egan is a travel writer by trade, turned fiction crafter plus secret poet on the side, most often inspired by Mother Nature’s grand magic. She finds that observing how these four elements relate and intertwine is a fun fascination all in itself.