The story of the week for August 18 to 22 is…
Skyward by John Singh
EDEN PELA: Anxiety
The grass is barren
And I am the one to blame.
After a long millennium of wishing,
There are no more shooting stars.
I’ve used them all up,
Selfishly.
They are tired.
Or maybe they don’t want to see me anymore.
My wishes are too noisy for their brief passing.
Eden Pela is a writer, poet, hobby-level photographer, and rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying English Literature. She has an associate’s degree in Creative Writing from Brookdale Community College and writes feature articles for MXDWN and Mood of Living. Her literary influences are early modernist/realist writers like Fernando Pessoa, Hemingway, and George Orwell. Drawing on her experiences in Nigeria and the United States, she has found solace in writing prose and poetry that reflect those cultural differences. She currently lives between New Jersey and Philadelphia, spending her time writing/submitting to other literary magazines, as well as managing The Vagabond’s Verse with as much passion as one can have for its creation.
KRISTINA WARLEN: A Theology of Crumbs
He plays slow hymns no one taught him. Leaves crumbs in the sheets, salt on my thighs. “I wish I still believed,” he says. I don’t answer. He kisses like prayer. I trace his spine like scripture. He kneels. I don’t. Still, I stay. The body has its own liturgy.
Kristina Warlen writes literary and speculative work that explores memory, grief, intimacy, and emotional fracture. Her poetry and short fiction appear in TWLOHA Blog, Five Fleas (Itchy Poetry), Corporeal Lit Mag, The Daily Drunk, and Switch Magazine, with recent and forthcoming work in Right Hand Pointing, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Eunoia Review.
BOB THURBER: The Funeral of Mother Goose
They all came. Peter Piper, Simple Simon, Bo Peep, Miss Muffet, Jack and Jill. The old woman who lived in a shoe brought all her children. The cat played his fiddle, while the dish and spoon drummed a solemn beat, as the cow eyed the waning moon, gauging her leap.
Bob Thurber is the author of six books. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.
RAN WALKER: Writing About Love
My notepad is full of poems about love, back from a time I didn’t know much about it (though I thought I did), but love must be learned by living through its highs and lows, my notepad growing as I grew to find myself this grown man writing about love.
Ran Walker is the author of over 40 books, most of them microfiction. He teaches creative writing and lives in Virginia with his wife and daughter.
LORRAINE MANTON: A Children’s Fairy Tale
There weren’t fairies at the bottom of our garden. There were monsters, small, scabrous and very hungry, who ate any pests: insect, animal, human. Then they watched us.
There were monsters at the bottom of our garden… until the fairies came and ate them.
And now the fairies watch us.
Lorraine Manton is currently studying creative writing and literature at Deakin University, Australia and has a great fondness for books, coffee and small slices of imaginary lives.
STEPHANIE HURLEY: The Waiting Room
Life swerved to a stop, wheels spinning. Time shattered.
Sirens faded into the fragile rhythm of plastic-chair percussion. Here, memories caught in their throats, clogged beneath the sterile smell of white. Fingers clenched tight around prayers as silence held the room like breath.
The door opened, and grief fell out.
Stephanie Hurley is a writer and English teacher based in Manawatū, New Zealand. She is passionate about all things creative; in particular, using writing to examine the world around her. Her work has been published in Tarot, Mote, Chortle, and fiftywordstories.com.
MORGAN LEWELLEN: Only the Necessities
Rent is paid. Insurance is pending. Take off the utilities and the credit card payment. Twelve dollars left. How much is on the credit line? If I guess-timate and don’t eat much, there’s just enough wiggle room. I can get us a zoo membership. Maybe we can be kids again.
Morgan Lewellen lives in Oregon and writes fiction when she’s not teaching math.
GEORGENE SMITH GOODIN: Family Secrets
Your husband takes a DNA test after his father dies. Your father-in-law was a traveling salesman who really got around; maybe there’s siblings.
You test as moral support, secretly hoping a girl with a moon face, the pinkest skin, a girl you’ve held just once, is looking for you, too.
Georgene Smith Goodin’s work has appeared in numerous publications, and has won the “Mash Stories” flash fiction competition. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the cartoonist Robert Goodin, and their four children. Follow her on Bluesky at @gsmithgoodin.bsky.social.
JOHN SINGH: Skyward
Thoughts of his mother flooded his mind: two years gone, today. It seemed so much longer. Outside, no jacket, he never minded freezing air that stung his face. Turning southwest, away from the full moon, Jerry looked skyward. He imagined he could see her ship, hurtling toward a distant world.
John Singh is a long-time publicity and communications executive in the entertainment industry, working for such companies as Disney, DreamWorks and Lucasfilm Ltd. He has lately turned his attention to writing fiction, primarily for his husband, Jeff, and their dog, Walter.