“O Zeus, what awaits me?”
“Nobody knows,” answered the towering figure, his eyes closed. “Good and bad in even measure.”
Two jars rested near his throne. Zeus drew content from both. “This is your fate. It is the same for all. The what is unknown, you only choose the how.”
Jimmy Paquet is a Greek mythology aficionado who writes from the sky of Ottawa, Ontario. Through his writing, he endeavours to discover the universal truths hidden within the myths and legends of the world.
“Isn’t this cosy?” I said.
“We’re in a box,” she answered. “I want out.”
The sun shone in the window, and a rainbow fell across her face. Over the years, our house had grown small. I pulled out a match stick and played my tiny violin. Even the dust listened.
Jeff Friedman’s tenth book, Ashes in Paradise, has recently been published by Madhat Press. Friedman’s poems and mini stories have appeared in American Poetry Review, Poetry, Poetry International, New England Review, Flash Fiction Funny, Best Microfiction 2021 and 2022, 2023, and The New Republic. He has received an NEA Literature Translation Fellowship and numerous other awards. Meg Pokrass and Friedman’s co-written collection of microfiction, The House of Grana Padano, was published by Pelekinesis Press in 2022
I was a green girl, kidnapped, forced to marry Hades underground—that’s how my mother tells the story. But consider this. I have appetites. I broke the pomegranate open, I shared a juicy feast with my man. If you were born to unrelenting summer, you’d crave a velvet shadow too.
Anne Lindley Killheffer wrote this story.
Round, another shield of Perseus, the painting holds Medusa beheaded and mortally offended; why does everyone blame her?
Why must she be punished again and again? She scowls, her snakes hissing in support of her.
“Don’t look at me,” she cries out. “Don’t let him use me like this. Run!”
E.A. Fow holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College, CUNY. She reads, writes, and paints in Brooklyn, NY.
Editor’s Note: This story is inspired by a painting, which you can learn about here.