JC PILLARD: Jigsaw

Artistic, Puns and Wordplay, Submissions, , , ,

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was a jigsaw puzzle. Everyone loved her because she could arrange herself to be whatever anyone wanted. Then, one morning, she looked in the mirror and realized she did not remember who she was anymore.

Then she fell all to pieces.

J.C. Pillard lives in Colorado where she works as an editor and data analyst. She has previously published stories with Broadswords and Blasters and Fall Into Fantasy 2019. She spends her time gardening, reading, and, of course, writing.

JACQUELINE DOYLE: New Shoes

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

Ensconced in a wheelchair, my mother holds up her feet and wiggles them, showing off new pale beige moccasins, fur-lined, soft and roomy for her swollen feet. “My sister got them for me,” she tells a nursing home attendant, gleeful. But really it was me, her daughter, become unimaginably old.

Jacqueline Doyle’s flash chapbook The Missing Girl is available from Black Lawrence Press. Find her online at jacquelinedoyle.com and on Twitter at @doylejacq.

GEORGE J SEARLES: Sociologist’s Burden

Amusing, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

A much-published academic,
Prof. Dennis Wrong was quite a guy.

Filled with truly shrewd polemic,
his several books rank pretty high.

Now this would be all well and fine
but for one point adamantine:

It was for years good ol’ Den’s plight
to be called Wrong though always right.

Author’s Note: Dennis Wrong (1923-2018) was a widely acclaimed NYU sociologist.

George J. Searles teaches English and Latin at Mohawk Valley Community College and has also taught for Pratt and The New School. The editor of Glimpse, a poetry magazine, he has published many poems in other small quarterlies, along with three volumes of literary criticism from university presses and eight editions of a widely used communications textbook. He is a former Carnegie Foundation New York State “Professor of the Year.”

JENNIFER L FREED: Our Good Luck

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , , , , ,

A year later, we give thanks—
that it was then, not now,

that we could be there
in the hospital with him, for days,

that so many friends could come and go,
give last goodbyes, lean close,

and not once did any of us worry
about sharing the same air.

Jennifer L Freed mostly writes poems, which have appeared in various
journals and anthologies. See more on her website: jfreed.weebly.com.

CRISTINA MARIE PAGAN: When the World Stops

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

A previously loud planet is now silent. Its people—including myself—are isolated.

Quietly, I sit at my desk, where my old stories rest. Grabbing a pencil, I add layers to their clothing. Then I create new journeys, with paths that test one’s courage.

Suddenly, I find myself exploring the universe again.

Cristina Marie Pagan has appeared in 50-Word Stories, Glimpse, the Mystic Blue Review, and Seshat Literary Magazine.

MATTHEW EICHENLAUB: Five Years Old

Submissions, Touching, , ,

Weeping for his dead father,
Aunt Lizzie held him at the doorway
to the kitchen,
______________and would not let go.

Later, she spooned bacon grease over sizzling eggs.
Cooled their coffee and milk while he sat on her lap,
cup to saucer, saucer to cup, a sip,
______________and a giggle.

Matthew Eichenlaub is most fortunate to be living in southern Maine with a pickup truck, health insurance, and a new right hip. Thank you to the Essence of all that is.

ADRI PERSAD: Butterfly Sandwich

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The philosopher awoke with a start, lifting his head from the coffee table. He had been dreaming that he was an open-faced peanut butter sandwich with an exhausted drug addict passed out on him.

He peeled the peanut-buttered bread from his cheek.

Who’s to say which reality was a dream?

Adri Persad is from West Virginia, and pursues interests in writing, engineering, fitness, and general grousing. You can follow him on Twitter @36_chambuhz.

EE RHODES: Decree Nisi

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

She stared, unseeing, through the murky window.

The tea in her mug had grown cold. She wondered if there was any point in making another.

The radio fitzed in the background.

She sighed. There was a pile of dirty things in the sink. So she started on the washing up.

E. E. Rhodes is an archaeologist who lives in Cardiff in the UK, with 5000 books, a tolerant partner and at least a few mice. Follower her on Twitter at @electra_rhodes.

CADENCE RAGE: Forever

Submissions, Touching, , ,

Nahla watched warily as they unpacked her belongings: bowl, leash, collar. Sooner or later, she’d have to move again. It never lasted.

A child scrambled forward, wrapping her in a welcoming hug. Warmth, unlike any other, flooded Nahla’s chest.

How long can I stay? she searched.

Forever, his eyes answered.

Cadence Rage is a musician, animal rights activist, and caffeine-addicted weaver of speculative fiction. She publishes flash fiction and hilarious observations at cadencerage.wordpress.com. Find her on social media @cadencerage.

ESZTER MOLNAR: Sunday Morning Heartbreak

Artistic, Submissions, ,

“Why would you do this to me?” the woman cries.

The café falls silent but she doesn’t seem to notice.

The man slowly removes her hand from his shoulder. He smirks as he gets up.

I can’t stop staring as she begins to sob, and I hate myself for it.

Eszter Molnar is a former teacher who lives by the windswept British seaside. She has been published in one of the UK’s biggest subscription magazines for children. By day, she cleans up after preschoolers, by night she writes flash fiction, picture books and Middle Grade fiction.