Tag Archives: Bob Thurber

BOB THURBER: Pressing Matters (Another Misadventure of the Broken Boys)

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

Late one night the boys woke from the same dreadfully bad dream.
They scrambled to their feet all at once.
The moon seemed unusually large.
The stars shone uncomfortably bright.
The sky felt dangerously close.
Half the boys pressed down against the earth.
Half the boys held up the sky.

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.

BOB THURBER: Before She Was My Mother

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

At eighteen, after winning two local beauty pageants, she hitchhiked to Hollywood, auditioned for a movie role with just one line, landed the part, but production fell through. Then she became pregnant. On all my birthdays she whispered that one line, smiling while adjusting her pose, searching for the camera.

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.

This story was originally published in The Woolf and included in Best Microfiction 2022.

BOB THURBER: I’ll need to do some dying before I’m done

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , ,

I don’t know how the dying do it.
I keep a list of my dying friends.
When one speaks I listen.
When one makes some remark about death, I jot it down.
There are far fewer than one might think.
It’s life they talk about. The blessing of each day.

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.

BOB THURBER: About Them Pigs

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

There were four, not three.
Pinky, Browny, Whitey, and Blacky.
They weren’t little.
Each weighed about 300 pounds.
Their houses – constructed of mud, straw, sticks, and bricks – collapsed in the same windstorm.
They were pigs, not builders.
Ask yourself: who’s telling this story?
Hint: I left town in a huff.

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.

BOB THURBER: Poor Devilish Me

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

I met an angel. The honest-to-goodness real deal. A wholesome beauty, born of light, who smelled like early Sunday morning rain. She sparkled in the dimmest light, brightened even the darkest shadows. We tried living together for a while but she knocked me over every time she spread her wings.

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.

BOB THURBER: Adrift in Timeless Affection

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

Past the bend, out of sight of the lake houses, we locked our oars.

The night was quiet, the air was still, the moon was full, the lake was a mirror.

We had our own moon, our own sky, a billion stars shining their light in the depths beneath us.

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.

BOB THURBER: A Writer’s Life, Family Group Shots Aside

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Many of the solo photographs of my father show him at his desk, working. In each photo a long line of smoke, thick as a brushstroke, leads to the cigarette between his fingertips. The cigarette is the same length, held the same way every time — a magician’s prop, permanently installed.

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.

BOB THURBER: The Last Performance

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

I sang. I danced. I explained the upside. I listed reasons for hope.

You’re young, I said. You’re beautiful. Smart. Talented.

I held her hand and convinced her she could turn her life around. She brightened up, but only for a moment.

No. No divorce. I’m not signing, she said.

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.

BOB THURBER: The Secret Revealed

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

For the longest time she didn’t know what it was, but it was very simply the writing.

The style, the cadence, the rhythms, the pace.

The psychological connection with the reader.

One day she met the reader and that reader was herself.

The hypercritical, intolerant, easily distracted, easily bored version.

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.

BOB THURBER: A Writer’s Monotonous Search for Meaning

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , ,

You know this trick.

Within each box is another, somewhat smaller, but otherwise exact replica.

Your task is to go through the motions, revealing box after box.

It’s an impractical assignment, requiring a monotony that stings, draining your essence as you stack panoramas, building impressively tall structures with empty boxes.

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.