YASH SEYEDBAGHERI: Stuck Switch

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , ,

Memories of lavender perfume, mint toothpaste, gooselike laughter. Zoom screen flickers, sisterly smiles, I-love-you, promise of reunion.

Doses of Diet Pepsi, blank Word document demanding, room’s too big, no cheerful insults rising.

Tchaikovsky on Spotify, strings wailing.

A hug emoji she sent.

A blown fuse, a stuck switch. Won’t budge.

Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA program. 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.

LEIA ZVYA: Life Lessons

Amusing, Odd, Submissions, , ,

“Here’s the thing,” she said.

We all leaned in as she stood up, put her hands in her pockets, and examined us over the top of her glasses.

She pulled out a paper clip and tossed it onto the table, nodding as she watched it land. Then she walked away.

Leia Zvya does many things. She is better at some than she is at others, but she tries to find the joy in all of them. This is her first attempt at microfiction.

ANDY HEDGECOCK: Votive

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Refugees from closing time without change for the meter. Emergency candle lit with a zippo. Wine. Chatter. Laughter.

The flame dies. Silence. Quivering kisses.

Four decades later, my hand trembles in a church’s vaulted gloom as a zippo’s flame kisses the wick of a tealight. And I remember another candle.

Andy Hedgecock lives and works in rural Nottinghamshire, UK, close to an Iron Age earthwork, the remains of a Roman fort, a decommissioned coalmine, and a disused railway line. It’s a place of scars, erasures, and stories.

JULIE WEYANT: Wild Woods

Adventure, Submissions, , ,

There’s a place where trees whisper and dance. They use their branches to trip unwelcome hunters, or shield sweaty joggers from the sun.

White flowers bloom in hopes that they’ll wind up tucked behind the ear of a young woman, placed there by her lover.

Nature has its own mind.

Julie is currently completing her undergraduate degree in English and creative writing. She hopes to write fantasy novels and shot stories after she graduates.

JEFF MOSS: Third Pandemic Mourning Dove

Poetry, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Another mourning dove
didn’t heed
the door opening,
the scrambling,
panting,
scraping,
of Sofi,
75 pounds of bounding
collie/retriever/chow.

Other creatures-
cardinals, jays, squirrels-
fled the feeder.
This dove continued pecking
at scattered
seed.

Sofi pounced,
the bird
a tossed
tennis ball.

She delivered it,
lady-like
at my
feet.

Again?

Jeffrey G. Moss is a Brooklyn born and bred author. He is branching out more and every day.

JANE LANGAN: The Disguise

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

Invisible, I wander. Browsing the aisles, makeup disappearing into my Parka. The large pockets slowly becoming misshapen. They think the shape is me. It isn’t.

I pay for my can of beans at the self-checkout, then try to make eye contact with the security guard as I leave.

Still invisible.

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 been published in several magazines. Besides writing, she enjoys photography and tap dancing. She has just completed an MA in Creative Writing. You can see more of her work on her blog, http://howilikemycoffee.blogspot.com.

GENE NEWMAN: Arithme(tac)tic

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

People rudely ask, “How old are you?” and then look shocked when I answer, “Ninety.”

“Well, God bless you,” they say.

Ninety isn’t that old. Millions of turtles are older than me.

My grandson yearns to be older, so he’s “six and a half.”

Therefore, I’m now 60 and a half.

Gene Newman wrote this story. See more at GeneNewmanImagineThat.com.

RS RANIERE: Mama’s Pearls

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Chipped and yellowed from years of wear, I would often see her finger them, lovingly, her eyes glazed and distant. They just appeared one day, around her neck.

She didn’t say; I didn’t ask. Papa never noticed them.

She’s gone now, buried in her favorite blue dress—and faded pearls.

R.S. Raniere has taught English and American Literature at the high school/college levels for fifteen years and is now retired. She writes short stories and poetry and has recently completed her first novel. She is a member of the Atlanta Writers Club and has been published in an anthology of poems and short stories by The Heritage Writers Group, as well as in Atlanta Review. She received her Master’s degree in English from Rutgers University. See more at Roseanns-Ramblings.com.

RAN WALKER: Euphonic Cacophony

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

The jazz trio played louder to cover the screams of the people in the streets. The doors were locked and chained. They’d be safe inside for a while. And rather than fear the inevitable, they chose to continue playing the best set of their lives, making the screams their melody.

Ran Walker is the author of 23 books, including the upcoming book Keep It 100: 100-Word Stories. He teaches creative writing at Hampton University in Virginia.