KHALILAH OKEKE: Outback Town

Artistic, Submissions, ,

In Mount Isa, miners train their savage dogs to attack Aboriginals that wander too closely to their houses.

I jogged through neighborhoods panting polluted air, my afro curls caked in lead dust. Chained beasts pulled their leashes tight while snapping teeth through low built fences.

I screamed, “I’m an American!”

Khalilah Okeke was raised in the Pacific Northwest and now resides in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and two children. Her work has been published in The Plum Tree Tavern, Down in the Dirt magazine, The Red Eft Review, The Orissa Society of the Americas Journal, and 50-Word Stories. She has work forthcoming in The Scarlet Leaf Review. You can follow her blog at khalilahokeke.wordpress.com.

LISA MILLER: Confidence Booster

Submissions, , , ,

What do I love about my body? Not much.

They say I’m good enough, and smart. Am I?

I stare in the mirror at my unrecognizable face, then stick my tongue out, giggling, cracking a smile.

You’re important. You matter.

A face painting class is just what I needed today.

Lisa Miller is a native of Portland, Oregon. You can check out many of her stories on Friday Flash Fiction.

JODY KISH: Unconditional

Submissions, Touching, , ,

Old.

Lost most of my teeth and sight. Not rambunctious like I was.

She still loved me, unconditionally. She looked at me as if I was still a pup. “You take love with you from one world to the next,” she once told me.

Never thought that I’d outlive her.

Jody loves to write fiction. She is inspired by her old hound dog, who puts a smile on her face every day with his silly antics.

SETH PILEVSKY: Don’t Change Alone

Odd, Submissions, ,

It started in my legs, then spread almost everywhere. My parents reported me, so I ran before I could be quarantined. My girlfriend, Wynona, joined me.

One night, in a cheap motel, it spread to my head. I was a robot.

Wynona smiled. Her legs had changed. She was next.

Seth Pilevsky lives in New York with his wife and five kids. His work has been published in the Long Island Literary Journal, Literally Stories, Memoir Magazine, Stinkwave’s Magazine and in the YA Anthology entitled, What Doesn’t Kill You. See more at spilevsky.com.

KIAH MOTT: Bad Like That

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

You told me the story of the blind man out in the rain: grabbing the bus stop sign and leaning into the wind. You were in the back of the car and wanted to get out and offer him an umbrella you didn’t have.

Some days are bad like that.

Kiah Mott has been published previously in Flash Fiction Magazine Online. She was also a finalist for the 2018 Moon City Fiction Competition.

GRAHAM ROBERT SCOTT: Changeable Natures

Amusing, Odd, Submissions, , ,

After the strange cow—on our land that night, yet unbranded—nipped Pete, we watched him close for a month, and, this proving wise, every full moon thereafter, until Ma, Mellie, and I returned from vacation to find Pa’s dementia had deepened, and over a mouthful of burger, Mellie asked, “Where’s Pete?”

Graham Robert Scott teaches writing at a university in north Texas. His stories have appeared in Barrelhouse Online, Nature, and Blink-Ink. See more at hemicyon.wordpress.com.

MICHELLE DINNICK: Is it Finally Over?

Poetry, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Is it finally over? Whatever this was?
Not dating, not friendship… It’s giving me pause.

I am angry. Hurt. But not that upset.
I wonder, was it love? And will I forget?

Not that long ago, I seem to recall,
Still had that nice flutter feeling,
Do you? At all?

Michelle is an award-winning author and poet. She is a contributor in the most recent Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Canada, and a quarter finalist in the 2017 ScreenCraft Short Screenplay contest. Her writing has appeared in The Globe and Mail, (one of Canada’s National newspapers) and a number of local magazines and newspapers including The Briar Crier, Total Sports, Voice of the Farmer, Arts Talk and Focus 50 Plus. Her short story “Lightning Strikers” (also featured on Commuter Lit) was made into a series in the Focus 50 + Newspaper because fans asked for more! This year, Michelle won the Ontario Writers Conference Story Starter Contest in two categories. You can find her online at commuterlit.com, fiftywordstories.com, femininecollective.com, michelledinnick.com and @MichelleDinnick.

JUDI MacKENZIE: Reunion

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Forty years of life swell between us since graduation day.
Yet here we are, time melted away in sunny blue Homecoming skies.

Youth aroused,
Pure spirit lurking in football memories
and tangible attraction amidst the Rah and Rah.

Back home, to the future, soft remnants remain, glowing…

Please don’t go.

Judi MacKenzie is a writer who recently attended a reunion.

SUSAN GALE WICKES: Absolution

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Hansel never did like kids. They made too much noise. They had sticky fingers.

His wife pleaded, but he wouldn’t give in.

Unexpectedly, she gave birth to a blue-eyed angel. One look into those eyes and his heart melted.

He asked for his wife’s forgiveness.
Secretly, she prayed for his.

Susan Gale Wickes lives in Indiana and writes poetry, short fiction, and songs.