Down by the pier he loved to go. Twilight saw him sit there. I’d wanted to go with him but he refused. He said, “Nature has a time for everyone.”
He penned some words in a journal kept away from everyone. It was found under his pillow after his departure.
Thompson Emate is a diverse writer trying to find his way through. His short stories can be seen in voice.club. He lives in Lagos, Nigeria.
She smiles politely, appearing to listen. Inside, a wall is rising, deflecting the words, storing them in a corner of her soul. Maybe later she will let them out, face their truths, feel their pain. But not today. Today she will smile and be gracious. He would have liked that.
A prolific writer, Carol Reeves is loving the freedom and challenges of 50 word stories.
Her first book, “All the Little Miracles,” was published this year.
When the smoke and the flames faded, we emerged from the rubble. Lonely survivors with seed pouches at our sides, we planted gardens in the ashes. Our work would revive a smoldering civilization; we thought ourselves seed-scattering saviors. We realized too late that we had sown a bed of weeds.
J.A. August writes to explore the world and the people who shape it.
Bears descend from burnt mountains into town. Starving, they only want our garbage.
Men on corners shout: “Garbage now; next our jobs!”
Bears preparing taxes, scanning groceries. Why not?
You befriend two, take them to eat Filet-o-Fish. They lick their enormous claws clean.
Full-bellied, they doze, dream memories of green.
JSP JACOBS is a graduate of the Boise State University creative writing program, and Tin House and Chapman University Workshops. Her work has appeared in publications including Nano Fiction, 100 Word Story, Hawaii Pacific Review, Parent Map, and SmokeLong Quarterly, as well as being nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has taught fiction writing at Orange Coast College, and now lives and writes between Huntington Beach, California and Boise, Idaho. You can find her at JSPJacobs.com.
The story of the week for September 5 to 9 is…
I’ll need to do some dying before I’m done by Bob Thurber
I don’t know how the dying do it.
I keep a list of my dying friends.
When one speaks I listen.
When one makes some remark about death, I jot it down.
There are far fewer than one might think.
It’s life they talk about. The blessing of each day.
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.
At night she dances to their favorite song, imagining his fingers interlocked with hers, his arm sweeping around her waist. Her hips aren’t what they used to be and her movements are slow, but the music guides her sweetly, her memories of him filling in every space between the beats.
Ran Walker is the author of 26 books, the latest of which is Black Marker: A Novel in 100-Word Stories. He teaches creative writing at Hampton University and lives in Virginia with his wife and daughter.
All that remains are the shells, hulls, the crispy carcasses that once contained life, scattered along the basement, where floor meets wall. It is here that they sought escape, only to shrivel and perish.
Indifferent to their suffering, she sweeps them away, discontent in the knowledge that they will return.
Emily Merrell is the author of the children’s book Whirl of a Girl. You can visit her online at ehmerrellwrites.com.
What William heard first from grandmother was that in every woman’s heart there exists “the one that got away.”
What he heard next from grandfather was that in every man’s head there exists “the one they should have run from sooner.”
What William later heard was a big grandparent fight.
Kent Oswald teaches at CUNY and tweets at @oswalke.
Our lives are largely guided
by what cabinets and bureaus have decided.
Rulings from the bench, it seems
can banish hopes, puncture dreams.
Motions to the chair from the floor
have often led to civil war.
And who has such bold conceit
to ignore the power of his county seat?
Gene Newman is a retired old guy (90 yrs) and former New Jersey journalist and columnist. Read more at GeneNewmanImagineThat.com.