SETH PILEVSKY: Introvert Inversion

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

“Let’s have some friends over,” she probes.

I nod, because I love her.

When they come, their lips call.
Their gestures implore.
Their eyes beseech.

My smile is a rigid rictus.
My words, a shield or a sword.

When they go home, I close the door and retreat into myself.

Seth Pilevsky lives in New York with his wife and five kids. His work has appeared in What Doesn’t Kill You, a YA anthology published by Indomita Press, Maelstrom, The Inner Circle Writers’ Group Literary Anthology 2019, Long Island Literary Journal, Literally Stories, Memoir Magazine and Stinkwaves Magazine. Sign up for updates at his website, spilevsky.com.

YASH SEYEDBAGHERI: Turning Around

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , ,

I double-fist Coors on the porch. Listen through the Ponderosas for a truck sputtering, a horn. Purple shadows fall. A truck rolls by. The driver might offer a greeting. An invitation. Small talk. But when you live at the end of a road, it always turns around. Never looks back.

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

GENE NEWMAN: Johnny Blossomseed

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

My prim neighborhood’s light green lawns and dark green shrubbery
are sorely lacking in exciting color.
I long to see the rainbow surprises of newborn flowers
as I walk down my street on a spring day.

So now, each and every predawn morning,
I stealthily sow future marigolds and zinnias.

Gene Newman wrote this story.

KAY RAE CHOMIC: Too Late, but All Is Forgiven

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

Some veterinarians keep no pets at home, bakers bake nothing in their home kitchens, plumbers let leaks drip. That’s how it was for 72-year-old Elliott, an architect.

After he died, his wife discovered a blueprint for a pottery studio in his desk drawer: Sophie’s Pot Den. Start Date: Current Year.

Kay Rae Chomic is a novelist (A Tight Grip) and writer of flash. She lives in Seattle dodging raindrops, and is a Motown fan forever.

GINNY FENG: Autumn, Briar, Calla, Dawn

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

A, B, C, D. Test subjects.

Under dark we whispered the names of our parents, our sisters, our brothers. We vowed not to forget them. Not to forget ourselves.

The Experimenters did weird things to us. We behaved. To them, we were toys.

To ourselves: Autumn, Briar, Calla, Dawn. Girls.

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

SUNSET: Stone Romance

Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , , ,

He doesn’t take his eyes off his book.

I’m with an umbrella on a bench. I’ve been waiting for him to look at me; I don’t have time. They’re throwing the old statues away.

Whenever the stone boy finishes his book, tell him a stone girl was waiting for him.

Sunset wrote this story.

CLARE HAWKINS: No traveller returns

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

“It would be scary on your own, this tunnel.”

“Yeah, glad we can go together. Makes it almost normal.”

“I know, like we’re going for a walk. Take my hand, till we reach the light.”

“Didn’t think it’d be like this, did you?”

“No. I wish we could tell everyone.”

Clare is an enthusiastic reader and writer of historical fiction, a doting grandmother, volunteer ESOL teacher, gardener, and knitter.

JOHN YOUNG: The Beer Truck

Amusing, Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

On the way to the crematorium a large beer truck inserts itself between the hearse and the cortege, then, despite signals to overtake, tenaciously holds its position. In the moments of sad gladness, down the line of following cars, the laughter ripples. “Harry would have appreciated that,” they all agree.

John Young is an old chap grappling with themes of limits and longings. He lives in St Andrews Scotland.

JIM WOESSNER: Coloring Monsters

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

“Monsters have green eyes,” she said, working feverishly with a crayon. “You can tell he’s a boy monster,” she said.

“Really?” I said. “What about girl monsters?”

“Girls are too good to be monsters.”

Suddenly I had no idea if I had been a good father or a terrible one.

Jim Woessner is a visual artist and writer from California. He has an MFA from Bennington. Publishing credits include Unbroken Journal, The Sea Letter, Adelaide Magazine, Potato Soup Journal, Ariel Chart, Peeking Cat, Critical Read, and others.