He was charming, golden, and soft around the edges. Said he was seasonal but didn’t mention how short that season was. I kept the pit after he left. Planted it in winter, but nothing grew. Sometimes I check the dirt anyway, just in case he changes his mind about permanence.
S. Janaki is a writer and college student based in the Midwest. She likes updating her Goodreads, long walks, and the way Adrienne Lenker writes about futures that never happened.
I don’t really pray. You couldn’t offend my god because I have never had one.
But now, I see it dying, to a thousand cheers, and likes and shares, and my rage feels almost devout, my wrath, suspiciously religious.
Art is the prayer we offer at the altar of humanity.
A. Guha Deb is a writer, a student and a chronic procrastinator who writes best on an approaching unrelated deadline. He is currently juggling a dozen hobbies along with the tiny problem of figuring his life out.
All of her friends are engaged to men with insurance and stock portfolios. You’re next! they demand.
Alone, in places that are clean and beautiful, she outlines the novel she’d like to write. She looks at her chipped nails and the drafts in her notes. She just wants a dishwasher.
Alexa is intense, takes things personally, has never gotten over anything, and is editor of The Miami Native.
The train passes. Tears everywhere, yet the careless breeze of the Mediterranean graces me, leaving traces of my land everywhere. The train departs—at least the figs are swaying in the wind. Empty platform, but please let me wait a little longer, he will be here soon, he will come.
Eylem Zara Bektas studies English Literature and Comparative Literatures. When she is not reading, she writes short stories, flash fiction and poetry. She loves the ocean, both literary and real, and thus considers herself a professional ocean-seeker.
Summer rain fell hard and fast on the steel body of his car, causing an unbelievable racket. Warm nights and fireflies flashed through his mind; memories of childhood.
“The Flood isn’t what I thought climate change would look like,” he blustered out loud to no one as he drove on.
Lasara Firefox Allen (they/them) is the author of Jailbreaking the Goddess and Sexy Witch. They are published in many genres, online and in print. Subscribe to their Substack at: www.substack.com/lasarafirefoxallen. Learn more at www.linktr.ee/lasarafirefoxallen.
The sweet smell of the fresh plaster filled the room. Troweled on smooth and soft, hardening, a stone rolled before a tomb. He breathed in the scent of his labor and washed and packed his tools. He’d be long gone when the smell of his ungrateful boss overtook the room.
Jozzie Stuchell Velesig is a Harvard-trained writer and founding member of the Story Street Writers. For more information, visit jozziewrites.com or storystreetwriters.com.
Sleepless, Larry steps out into the pre-dawn light to walk off his anxiety. He doesn’t text his wife to let her know; doesn’t want the ping of her cellphone to wake her. Later they will laugh at this—how easily he’s forgotten about pen, paper, that words can be hand-written.
Jennifer L Freed is the author of When Light Shifts, a memoir-in-poems on care-giving, aging, and family relationships, inspired by the aftermath of her mother’s stroke. Her parents still inspire her. Please visit jfreed.weebly.com to learn more.
The story of the week for April 14 to 18…
What We Left Behind by Mari Kitina
In the village just after dawn, we can visit the old man who carves names on memorial stones. He’ll serve us tea and toast; he likes to talk to those who come by. He’ll call us his children. but don’t tell him your name. His chisels are always within reach.
Laurence Carr lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. His book of poems and short essays is Strides: reflections on 6 acres, with images by artist Edward M. O’Hara. Others include: Paradise Loft, (CAPS Press and Lightwoodpress); Traverse, a collaboration with artist Power Boothe. Pancake Hollow Primer, won the Next Generation Indie Book Award for first novel. This and two poetry collections, Threnodies: poems in remembrance and The Wytheport Tales are published by Codhill Press. Laurence is currently the publisher of Lightwood, an online arts and culture magazine. www.carrwriter.com and Lightwoodpress.com
Suddenly he remembered seeing on the news last year that a cop had been killed while retrieving one of these things. Still in the car, he YouTubed how to unload a Glock 9mm. It didn’t look hard. He wished he’d done it before sliding the gun down the storm drain.
David Clay is a finance professional and girl dad living in St. Louis, MO.