JANE LANGAN: Socks

Amusing, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

I folded their socks, washed, and paired them. I collected them from the floors of their bedrooms, rolled, inside out, crumpled.

As they grew, I found them tucked down the sides of beds, inside duvet covers. A game of hide and sock.

Now they are gone.

I miss their socks.

Jane Langan writes fiction and poetry and is currently working on her debut novel. Her anthology of poems, Blood Kisses, is available now. Jane has been shortlisted for a number of writing competitions and has been published in several magazines. Besides writing, she enjoys photography and tap dancing. She has just completed an MA in Creative Writing.

KRISTIN TENOR: Vestige

Artistic, Submissions, ,

Your postcards still arrive in my mailbox, even though they’re addressed to a woman who no longer exists. “I’m sorry. I miss you. Forgive me.” Words stripped to the bone like a rabbit caught between the fox’s tight jaws, the remains buried deep until they are hardened, turned to stone.

Kristin Tenor finds inspiration in life’s quiet details and believes in their power to illuminate the extraordinary. Her work has appeared in various literary journals including 50-Word Stories, Bending Genres, Emerge Literary Journal, Milk Candy Review, X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, among others. In addition, her flash fiction has been longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50 and has been nominated for Best Small Fictions, Best of the Net, and a Pushcart Prize. She serves as an editorial consultant and the flash fiction editor at CRAFT. Learn more at kristintenor.com or follow her on Twitter at @KristinTenor.

DON NIGRONI: A Timely Defense

Amusing, Poetry, Submissions, ,

“My case is simple, you shall see:
don’t listen to or heed his plea,
In jail he should remain our guest.
The prosecution now will rest.”

“The deed, if done, was in the past,
which disappears, and really fast,
so judge and jury please admit
you’re not clairvoyants; hence, acquit.”

Don Nigroni is a retired labor economist and volunteer Weed Warrior at the Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.

CHARLES GRAY: Deadlines

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

After a year of retirement spent plopped on the couch bingeing on-demand TV and enjoying the freedom from corporate deadlines that filled sleepless nights with worry, I’m thinking I better start setting my own deadlines and get my butt moving or else the inevitable deadline will arrive sooner than later.

Charles Gray is retired and living in Austin, Texas. He enjoys playing chess and writing.

RACHEL CANWELL: Where It All Became

Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , ,

They haven’t been here for a long time. And yet nothing has really changed.

The chairs are still hard and uncomfortable; the tea is still lukewarm and surprisingly bitter.

But the magic…
The magic is still there.

And hand in hand, eye to eye, they lose twenty years just gazing.

Rachel Canwell is a teacher, writer and blogger. She is working on her WIP and falling rapidly in love with Flash Fiction.

KEN GOSSE: Striking Out

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , , ,

“Once upon a time” may often be no more than that,
when “love’s first kiss” is love’s last kiss,
your “ever-after,” hit or miss;
the one who was your welcome mat
now bleeds you like a kneading cat.
Banality replaces bliss,
an undertow to the abyss,
like Casey’s last at-bat.

Ken Gosse prefers writing short, rhyming, humorous poetry. First published in First Literary Review–East in November 2016, he is also in The Offbeat, Pure Slush, Parody, Home Planet News Online, and other publications. Raised in the Chicago suburbs, now retired, he and his wife have lived with their dogs and cats in Mesa, AZ, over twenty years.

YASH SEYEDBAGHERI: Bar Light

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Jukebox plays The Eagles. I nurse Amaretto Sours. One drawn-out sip, another. I absorb dim lights, make up stories. I’m a writer, pianist, actor. I join people in losing at pool, laugh over lost shots, forget bills, stacks of tests, and somnolent students. Laugh until dull stars lead me home.

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. Yash’s work has been published in The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Write City Magazine, and Ariel Chart, among others.

RON. LAVALETTE: Postprandial

Amusing, Submissions, , , , ,

“Thank you, Darling, that’s just exactly what I needed,” he said without even looking up, too busy shoveling the meal’s few delectable remnants into his drooling face; too insensitive and neglectful to provide the eye contact every great chef both craves and deserves.

“You’re welcome,” she replied, mentally debating antidotes.

Ron. Lavalette lives on Vermont’s Canadian border. His poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction has been very widely published in both print and pixel forms. His first chapbook, Fallen Away (Finishing Line Press), is now available at all standard outlets. A reasonable sample of his published works can be found at EGGS OVER TOKYO.