YASH SEYEDBAGHERI: Networks

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

We watch different networks.
Mom loves Hallmark. Blue skies.
Sister Nan and I love HBO. Shadowed rooms.
Mom talks positivity, in spite of the job losses, the bosses. Nan and I absorb Machiavellian manipulation from the Sopranos.
Some nights we try to don Mom’s smile.
Broken lines stare through mirrors.

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

TIM BOITEAU: James

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Gray skies this morning.
Darlene abed.
Make her tea.
See she’s comfortable.
Tells me to quit my bothering. Calls me James.

Rain’s holding off.
Afternoon, split wood.
James?
Chop.
James.
Chop.

Dinner. Potato soup, chives.
Wipe the soup dribbling down her chin.
Won’t talk to me. Leastways, not to James.

Tim Boiteau lives in Michigan, is the author of the dark fantasy novel The Drummer Girl, and a Writers of the Future winner. See more at timboiteau.com.

SALLY WAGNER: Her Blood

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Father was a painter; thus, art was in her blood. Or so they would say.

She could see no art in the blood on her forehead, but she knew all about complementary colors. Orange covers up blue, yellow covers up purple. A smile covers up pain. Still the perfect family.

Sally Wagner lives in Luxembourg; with her two rabbits, and a dream of becoming a published author one day. Until that dream comes true, it will just be her and the rabbits. Which is good too.

LAURA BESLEY: Quality Time

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

“This is nice,” Sarah says, about the restaurant decor.

Gary’s phone rings. She orders.

They both eat one-handed: Gary’s other hand clasped round his phone, hers holding a book.

In the car, driving home, Gary says, “That was nice.”

Sarah pulls a loose thread on her scarf, watches it unravel.

Laura Besley is the author of micro fiction collection, (Un)Natural Elements (Beir Bua Press, 2021), 100neHundred (Arachne Press, 2021), and flash fiction collection, The Almost Mothers (Dahlia Books, 2020). Having lived in the Netherlands, Germany, and Hong Kong, she now lives in land-locked central England and misses the sea. She tweets at @laurabesley.

GINNY FENG: A Human’s Wings

Poetry, Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

Birds are made to fly.
Light bones, little beaks, big wings
Ready to steal the skies.

Birds are made to fly, and
Humans are made
To live.
Light homes, little kids, big hearts.
Forging happiness.

But rooms go dark
Children grow up
And hearts break.

Do birds tire of flight?

Ginny Feng lives in Tennessee, where she writes short stories and learns lots.

ANDREA ALLISON: The Journals

Adventure, Submissions, , ,

All that was left of my father were his journals, musings of a simple man. Pages of ordinary until I reached the final one: red cracked leather much different than the others. My heart stopped upon reading the first line.

First time I murdered a man, I was only 12.

Andrea Allison resides in a small Oklahoman town. Her work has appeared in 50-Word Stories, Sirens Call and NoSleep Podcast. See more at andreallison.com.

ALYSON FAYE: Flight

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The group stood waiting under the trees. Around them the sky dimmed to an ombre sunset. The mother rocked her daughter, staring at the sea.

This time, surely, the boat would come for them.

The two brothers and father scanned the bleeding horizon.

In the distance, their town burned red.

Alyson lives in the UK with her family including her rescue animals. She works as a tutor/editor. Her dark stories have appeared often on the Horror Tree, and varied anthologies, most recently ‘Night Frights’, ‘Were Tales’ and ‘Don’t Break the Oath’. She’s often roaming the moors with her Labrador, Roxy.

ALAN KEMISTER: Lament for COP26

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

Extreme heat and hurricanes in summer. Heavy rainfall and flood warnings in the fall. Insufficient snowfall in winter to replenish aquifers in the spring.

How do our politicians react? Platitudes and aspirational goals for solving climate change while carbon emissions increase relentlessly.

Enough to turn a septuagenarian into a revolutionary.

Alan Kemister is the pen name of a retired scientist experimenting with more fictitious writing. He’s currently working on a climate change trilogy. First book is published. Get the gory details at alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com.

PAMELA HORITANI: Our Luck

Adventure, Submissions, , , , ,

We stroll around casually, taking it all in, and we can hardly believe our good fortune. The grass is greener, skies bluer, the sun shines bright, and food grows in abundance. Its inhabitants seem clueless, but this Earth place is exactly what we’ve been searching for.

Let’s make our move!

Pamela is a writer and a poet who loves to travel.