Tag Archives: cycle

COLLETTE NIGHT: After the fire left

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

Bitter smoke clings to the rafters.
The corrugated shed is but a skeleton, creaking in the breeze.
Embers crackle hungrily in the paddocks, sending ashes dancing like butterflies in spring.
Beneath cracked soil, seeds awake.
Soon new life will sprout and the fire will linger only as a painful memory.

Collette Night is an Australian writer who crafts lyrical prose with bite, often circling themes of healing, memory, and the uncarved future. Her work seeks to take you elsewhere as you read—even if only for a moment. She has appeared in Starry Eyed Press and The Riot Collective, with forthcoming work in Trembling with Fear and Black Hare Press.

ELIZABETH ALLISON: Balance of Nature

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

When the doctor guided Josue into the world, his grandmother’s face crinkled in glee. “We’re fifteen now!” she squealed. The next month another doctor studied her tissue. When the pulley lowered her out of the world, bent faces crumpled in pain. “We’re fourteen now,” someone whispered while Josue squirmed guiltily.

Elizabeth is a former high school instructor and has been published in HuffPost, Intrepid Times, Burningword Literary Magazine and 101 Words. See more at thewriteprofile.com

JOREE NOVOTNY: State of Affairs, Flyover Country

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

A boy with cornflower eyes drops his cotton candy and cries, briefly, before remembering himself, his father, and his father’s fists.

He trashes his spoiled spun sugar, kicks concourse dirt onto a kid’s new candy apple, and feels better by feeling worse.

These are the makings for an all-American story.

You can follow Joree at @joreenovotny.

MICHAEL BIRD: Before You Judge

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The rules are easy.

Don’t hit people, or shout at them.
If they say you’re too close, you’re too close.
If they say don’t touch, you mustn’t touch.

When I grew up, people didn’t follow the rules.
Didn’t follow them with me.
That’s my excuse.

I know it’s not enough.

Michael Bird is a Romania-based writer and journalist, with stories published by Here Comes Everyone, Lune Journal, Bandit Fiction, Storgy, Grist and Bristol Short Story Prize, among others. As a journalist, his work has appeared in Vice, Politico, Mediapart, EU Observer, and Business Insider, and on the BBC and Deutsche Welle. See more at michaelbirdjournalist.wordpress.com.

CONNELL WAYNE REGNER: Perennials

Submissions, Touching, , , , , ,

She’d sit looking at the perennials starting to bud. Spring was in the air, with the promise of warmer days ahead.

She loved new life springing forth from her planting efforts.

Today the backfilling was done quietly, without hope of life being renewed, as we said goodbye at her graveside.

Connell writes a bit.

YONG TAKAHASHI: Mother

Submissions, Top Stories, , , ,

Mother wears her sorrow like a wet fur coat. As the days pass, every step she takes weighs her down. Each rancid choice she makes pushes us further apart.

She asks why I stay away from her.

I worry she’ll bequeath the coat to me and I’ll repeat the cycle.

Yong Takahashi won the Chattahoochee Valley Writers National Short Story Contest and the Writer’s Digest’s Write It Your Way Contest. She also was a finalist in The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, and runner up in the Gemini Magazine Short Story Contest and Georgia Writers Association Flash Fiction Contest. Some of her works appear in Cactus Heart, Crab Fat Magazine, Emerge Literary Journal, Flash Fiction Magazine, Gemini Magazine, Hamilton Stone Review, Meat For Tea, River & South Review, Rusty Nail Magazine, Spilt Infinitive, and Twisted Vines.

DEBBIE DORMADY: For Sale

Artistic, Submissions, ,

No longer able to live in their home, the elderly couple moved to a long-term care facility.

Possessions gathered during their fifty-eight years together were tossed into a dumpster and hauled away to the landfill.

The house is empty of breath, waiting for a family to bring a new beginning.

This is Debbie’s second 50-word story. She is amazed at how challenging it is to tell a story in so few words. An aspiring writer, Debbie is excited to eventually meet her new neighbours.

VINCENT MARS: Boys and Girls

Amusing, Submissions, , , , ,

John loved Marie, but she loved Jon. To Marie’s sorrow, Jon loved Maria, who did not love anyone. John wooed Marie while she wooed Jon. Meanwhile, Jon secretly wooed Maria. One day, Maria saw John for the first time. She fell madly in love with him and began wooing him.

Vincent Mars posts a 50-word story on his blog on every workday.

SAM GEM: The Anthill

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

I escape the house and run, crying, into the backyard. Examining hand-shaped bruises on my small body, I notice an anthill. Yesterday, I watched these ants a long time. Today is different. Raging, I stomp the anthill flat. Ants scurry in panic and writhe in pain.

It doesn’t help much.

Sam Gem is a writer of flash fiction, short stories, and maybe a novel someday. He resides in upstate New York.