Tag Archives: loss

NICK YOUNG: Embers of Memory

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Of a summer’s evening we gather around the campfire, laughing and singing the old songs. Most of all we revel in the tall tales about granddad. And as we speak, each in turn with a riotous story, he comes alive once more, his ruddy face beaming in the dancing flames.

Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. In addition to 50-Word Stories, his writing has appeared in dozens of reviews, journals and anthologies. His first novel, “Deadline,” was published in 2023. He can be found on Bluesky at @youngnick.bsky.social. He lives outside Chicago.

DEBORAH SALE-BUTLER: Questions for a Tethered Soul

Artistic, Odd, Submissions, ,

What happens to a soul that can’t leave—tethered to a body that’s forgotten how to die? Does it secretly visit people and places it once loved? Is that why the body speaks out of time? Which hurts more—seeing things you cannot touch or touching things you can’t remember?

Deborah Sale-Butler is a Portland, Oregon based writer. Her stories have appeared, or are forthcoming in dozens of publications including “101 Words,” “Twisting, Turning Timeshifts” and “Three X the Fun” anthologies, “Sci Fi Shorts,” “Flash Fiction Magazine,” and “Amazing Stories.” Read more at https://deborah-sale-butler.com.

JS O’KEEFE: Outwith the Garden

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

the town’s storyteller often used the word outwith
instead of outside
he claimed to have picked up
from Scottish and Yorkshire volunteers

now
the Garden’s shrinking around us
and there’s no other place left to live
we often say outwith among ourselves
concerning where
we’re going to find ourselves
soon

J.S. O’Keefe has published over three hundred short stories and poems in print and online literary magazines. See more at his website.

NICHOLAS DE MARINO: RIP

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

Eighty frozen peas, thawed, four times a day, down the pigeon’s leathery beak.
An ambulance. Across the street. Up, down, with a body, siren mute, lights still blaring.
Baby bird cries for more.
New widow already in black.
Weeks later the pigeon flies back to the flock.
Unrelated, but inseparable.

Nicholas De Marino is a former journalist and aspiring bon vivant. Read more at nicholasdemarino.com.

ANGELA CARLTON: The Girl by the Pond

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The girl by the pond has secrets that she can’t bury underwater.

She walks the chain fence until she finds the grave with one rose planted firmly in the ground. She’d been held captive for years-years-years, years before the pregnancy, the afterthoughts of a baby who might set them free.

Angela Carlton’s fiction has been published in Every Writer, Everyday Fiction, Pedestal Magazine, 6S, 50 Word Stories, Spillwords Press, The Dribble Drabble Review and Friday Flash Fiction. In 2022, “A Jigsaw Life,” a collection of stories was released. In 2023, her story “Swallowed,” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. See more on Facebook.

KATELYN JANE PONTZER: Pondering Pines

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

The copse of corpses is haunted by centuried ghosts and the ashen remnants of their skeletons. As I travel, they whisper to me in urgent gasps.

To be is to… To be is to…

I allow the whippoorwill’s song to drown out their voices, yet still I walk, pondering pines.

Katelyn Jane Pontzer is an aspiring writer from Georgia. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy.

MIRIAM N KOTZIN: The Big One-Way

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

On my last visit, Granny fretted. Were the aliens treating Grandpa right? Until now she’d opined that if aliens could do space travel, they shootin’-sure could do the wash and fix a proper dinner. A blessing Grandpa wasn’t fussy about his meals or collars. Her faith in Him remained unshakable.

Miriam N. Kotzin writes fiction and poetry. She is the author of five collections of poetry, two collections of short fiction, and two novels—most recently the novel Right This Way (Spuyten Duyvil). Her 50-word stories have been published in 50-Word Stories, 50 Give or Take, and Blink Ink. She teaches literature and creative writing at Drexel University.

PAUL D’ARCY: Inheritance

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

The kerchief was stiff with salt, sweat, and machine oil. She pressed it to her face.
It was him, alright. Not much of a dad. Always working, drinking, fighting, womanizing. Never home.
He couldn’t make her bedtime, but could always make her laugh.
She breathed him in one last time.

Paul D’Arcy tells stories. All real. Most brief. You can read more at pauldrc.com.

GRAHAM FORTIER: My Ex-Wife No Longer Calls Me

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

She used to call every month. When we last speak, she asks if I think about her. Every day, I say. But she doesn’t believe me. She hangs up in a fury, and I stare into the last piece of artwork our daughter ever made, still taped to the refrigerator.

Graham Fortier lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. He is a survivor of the Altadena wildfire.

GRACIE LYLE: Grandpa

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , ,

Mom knocked on my door after school and told me we were having dinner at 6. We always ate dinner, but when we had dinner, that meant at the table. With napkins and an important conversation.

“Who died?” I asked when I sat down.

“That’s not funny,” Mom said. “Grandpa.”

Gracie Lyle is an emerging writer from Brooklyn, NY. Her work has appeared in Elegant Literature. You can find her online at @gracielyle.bsky.social.