Tag Archives: Covid-19

BOB THURBER: Isolated For One Year

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Before the pandemic they’d been incompatible neighbors. Now they were cuddle-buddies. It made no sense. With practice they’d learned to ignore the unreality of their daily ritual. Only by embracing disbelief could one or the other advance like a sleepwalker across the hall. It felt so good to be held.

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.

PATRICK YU: hello darkness my old friend

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

The crisp wind
Threatens the embers
Boiling my rock soup
It seems
My soup might falter

I take flight
And dream of a different day

Grounded
I realize
My social isolation
Has left
My pot lacking
The ingredients
Of life
It’s all a metaphor
The empty pot
Food for thought

Patrick Yu is looking forward to a vaccine and a return to normal.

BOB THURBER: Living with Anxiety Disorder on a hot rainy day during a pandemic

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

Besides the hum of the air conditioner and the murmur of the rain and the sound of the TV there’s the constant noise in my head, a continuous commotion of charged thoughts unraveling mixed feelings and knotted memories, each a clump of snarled hair worked aggressively with a fine-toothed comb.

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.

BILL DIAMOND: Faith in Progress

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Whenever things looked grim, grandfather was upbeat. “It’s the best of times. Medicine conquers disease. Education brings opportunity. Hard work rewards.”

Then, the pandemic struck. Everything turned dark. Jobs disappeared. Schools closed. Disease prevailed.

Even as the virus took his breath, grandfather reassured, “It will get better. Work at it.”

Bill Diamond finds pleasure in translating thoughts into words and polishing their rough edges. It helps him to better grasp the world and its quirks.

E.L. BLIZZARD: Mama

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , , , ,

Sucking, searching for air, she’s like a hooked fish dying bit by bit on a riverbank. Wringing rag, wiping forehead, singing lullabies, pushing ginger ale.

Like she taught me.

Really, I listen through phone to coughs and love words between coughs.

boots pacing
river’s peaceful trail
no pole this time

E. L. Blizzard lives in the US South with work in The Drabble, The Other Bunny, Drifting Sands, Bones, Ekphrastic Review, The New Verse News, FemkuMag, Friday Flash Fiction, Flash Fiction Magazine, Failed Haiku, and several others. Over years she’s worked in advocacy, allying with immigrants/refugees, cis/LGBTQ+ survivors of intimate partner violence, and those experiencing homelessness.

AS CZUK: Sunset in Pandemic Winter

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

As the orchestra exhales its final fuschia note, the ink of night slides silently over hills. Twisting through the vines. Settling into the earth.

The stillness

weighs upon his back, too heavy to carry now. Face into the dirt, the world breaks into riotous silence. He is overwhelmed with loneliness.

A.S. Czuk writes in solitude, in the middle of the night, when sleep’s evasiveness prevails. Writing is personal. Intimate. Private. Exposure is a harsh light that stings the eyes, but A.S. Czuk realizes now that life is much too brief to carry on in the dark.

JOSEF LEMOINE: Fight for Freedom

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

I remember when masks felt like shackles, distance like prison. No one could tell me who to see.

Now alone, I stare at clouds outside my hospital window and dream of driving, walking, speaking. Tubes and machines keep my heart beating. The act of breathing never before seemed so free.

Josef Lemoine is a Filipino-American writer living in Southern California with his wife, son, and daughter. In a past life, his work could be found in Word Riot, RipRap, The Legendary, and Boston Literary Magazine. For the time being at least, his writing can still be found in Dogzplot, Bending Genres, and Medium. A poem of his will soon be published in **** Men Say to Me: A Poetry Anthology in Response to Toxic Masculinity from Moon Tide Press. Follow him at instagram.com/joseflemoine

MARGIE NAIRN: 2020 in 50 Words

Poetry, Submissions, , , , ,

Fires
Devastation
Impeachment
Kobe
COVID
Pandemic
Virus
Fear
Deaths
Loss
Distance
Fauci
Masks
Droplets
Restrictions
Sanitizer
Testing
Contact
Quarantine
Lockdown
Remote
Lewis
WFH
PPE
RBG
Grief
Essential worker
Homeless
Unemployed
Deserted
Hunger
Bubble
Guidelines
George Floyd
I CAN’T BREATHE
Protests
Division
Violence
Stimulus
VOTE
Zoom
Isolation
Anxiety
Depression
Vaccine
Hope

Margie Nairn wrote this story.

CATHY BERG: Homebody

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , ,

As I press my nose against the windowpane wondering when it will all end, Mother Earth is hoping it never will. Empty streets and clear skies are her ventilator. She breathes a sign of relief.

After 294 days at home in sweatpants, I, too, am relieved to still be breathing.

Cathy Berg enjoys brevity, simplicity and Orange Pekoe tea.

YASH SEYEDBAGHERI: Home

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

You live with white walls, an oak desk. Collections of Yates. Richard Ford.

This year, there’s no dirty jokes. No spaghetti sauce bubbling with tomato-colored cheer.

No hugs, lavender perfume, butter-colored lights blanketing you.

Just Zoom, accentuating shadows. You can’t feel polished stairways. Savor angles and doorways.

The lights dim.

Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA fiction program. Yash’s work has been published in The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts and Ariel Chart, among others. He lives in Garden Valley, Idaho.