MARC SIMON: Lost and Found

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

I lost my way in Freedom Park, amid Cedars, Palmetto, Cabbage Palms, and pink water lilies floating on black water. The buzz of data in my head was gone, replaced by the hum of a dragonfly’s crystalline wings. I lost my way in Freedom Park and found a morning’s peace.

Marc Simon’s short fiction has appeared in over fifteen literary magazines. Five of his one-act plays have been winners in new works contests. His debut novel, The Leap Year Boy, was published in December 2012. His novella, According to Isaac, is now published on Amazon.com. See more at https://marcsimonwriter.com

EMILY HALL: Full Potential

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , ,

I watched as Mom-Mom made her bed.

She raised the sheet corners like four strong sails. Plumped embroidered pillowcases until the roses bloomed. Leveled her handmade quilt with an engineer’s precision.

And I felt such sorrow for this woman, who’d always warned me that girls shouldn’t have too much ambition.

Emily Hall is a freelance writer whose prose appears, or is forthcoming in, places such as Passages North, Portland Review, Blood Orange Review, 100 Word Story and Cherry Tree. She has a PhD in contemporary Anglophone novels, is a prose reader for West Trade Review, and lives in NC with her husband.

DEBORAH TAPPER: Restless

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The tower clock counts sonorous hours while I sit on this gravestone, watching the moon wane and recollecting past misdeeds. Tonight’s certainly colder, a bone-pincher spiked with frost. Stars glitter overhead: crueller than any diamonds, but infinitely easier to ignore.

I thought death guaranteed eternal rest.

Seems I was wrong.

Deborah writes at an old desk surrounded by five hundred pet bugs.

LYNN KOZLOWSKI: Outside the Ice Cream Shop

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Four tanned old women sit on a wooden bench. Friends in shorts and colorful tops. No conversation. Each is working on a generous, diet-breaking, double-scooped ice cream cone on the sweltering day. They are happy, engrossed in the cold pleasures of their choices. No worries but the race against drips.

Lynn Kozlowski’s writing has appeared in such places as The Citron Review, The Zodiac Review, Molecule, 50-Word Stories, Every Day Fiction, The Dribble Drabble Review, and Friday Flash Fiction. He has a volume of short pieces, Historical Markers.

SARAH FLICK: My Mom

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , ,

Passing through our peanut butter and jelly kitchen, she’d shoot some words at me before grabbing her movie star sunglasses and hurrying off to someplace more glamorous. A petite woman, vodka lover with sleepy cat’s eyes and hip-switching walk, poured into high leather boots, forever waving goodbye over her shoulder.

Sarah Flick is retired from the US Forest Service and lives in Colorado. She has published in 101 Words, Flash Fiction Weekly, and a Modern Love column in the New York Times.

ABBY COLLIER: Emily’s Education

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

Colonialism and decolonisation. All her committees begin and proceed that way now. Emily can’t remember when they stopped discussing teaching, research, and students – how quaint, like her. She takes a moment balancing social justice with economic sensitivities in this decision. Is it equitable? Inclusive? Defiantly, Emily snatches the last muffin.

A once (and still, somewhat) Professor of Drug Metabolism, Abby lives in Ladner BC, with two elderly horses, one senior man-cat, and the love of her life.

THOMPSON EMATE: Stepping into Twilight

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Daylight is preparing to exit the stage. The clouds are settling in for the night, and the sun is getting ready to take a sink. I’m riding in a tricycle caressed by the wind, embracing the moment. Soon, twilight will summon its elements, and I will step through its door.

Thompson Emate spends his leisure time on creative writing, particularly poetry and prose. He is trying his hand at every genre of fiction. He lives in Lagos Nigeria.

BRYSON MOOSO: Twins

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

It was a kind funeral. Black cloth and sweet rolls.
They sang your song and recycled old stories anew.
They spoke well-wishes, treated me as if I was still whole.
They saw your empty body laid to rest then scattered like crows.
We buried two that day, you and I.

Bryson Mooso is still searching for that perfect sentence. He’s resigned to writing millions of them to find it.

CHRISTIAN DUFFY: Acetone

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

She spilt nail varnish remover over the piano when she was fifteen. Hit notes D and F, two octaves up. Acetone eroded the keys, leaving coarse indents that time chiselled into little craters for her fingertips to fall into.

Now, every time she plays, her mistakes have their own melody.

Christian Duffy is a flash fiction enthusiast based in Northern England. She holds a degree in Literature and not too many items in her hands at once for fear of dropping them.