NICK DI CARLO: When You’re in Ninth Grade…

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

You come home from school. See Mom and boyfriend Leroy sobbing on the sofa.

Leroy moans, “I killed Ted Stone.” Describes a bloody sidewalk.

Next day, you get home, find nobody there. Leroy on the lam. Mom too.

Later, you learn Ted Stone’s not dead.

No matter. You’re alone anyway.

Nick Di Carlo heard a person in a PTSD group say, “High School traumatized all of us.” Someone responded, “Things weren’t much better at home.” A third participant chimed in, “Then they drafted you.”

Nick nodded and said, “Amen, brother. Amen.”

JR WALSH: Endurance Sport

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

We’re in the backseat. Smoke plumes burst from our nostrils and sockets. No cigarettes; only the boredom of immortality. That old sun pinks the drumlin, smolders us. Vintage leather gloves hit the floor. Our hands are flames. We singe. I bite my own lip. Our coffins are safe at home.

JR Walsh is the Online Editor at The Citron Review. He teaches creative writing at SUNY Oswego. Find his writing on itsjrwalsh.com.

TREVOR: Height of Consistency (a true story)

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

At pickup time
after his first day of 1st grade,
Jason was at the very top
of that big tree
in the schoolyard.

At pickup time
after his last day of 8th grade
at the same school,
Jason was at the very top
of that big tree
in the schoolyard.

Trevor’s fiction and non-fiction have appeared it print and digital publications since the 1970s. He’s a mononymous, multiple award-winning, full-time entertainer who likes hyphens. See more at trevorthegamesman.com

PHIL W BAYLES: Cognitive Debt

Adventure, Amusing, Artistic, Submissions

I took my dose of Algernol half an hour ago. They said it should take affect quiet quickly.
Couldnt pay my bills so the bank took cognitive debt insted.
Ignore ants is bliss they sed. Dont remember why.
i can feel my mind slipping away
i hop it coms bak

Phil W. Bayles read the phrase “cognitive debt” in an article recently and found it utterly terrifying.

PAUL D’ARCY: Vigil

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

She orders the salad.

Has for nine years. Every dinner, every work lunch, every birthday where someone else chose the restaurant.

At home, she eats standing at the counter while her family sleeps.

Not much. Not nothing.

Only enough to keep the number she carries in her head from changing.

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

CHRIS DOLAN: Everyday Sun

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

That year I wore an ugly Christmas sweater, three dinosaurs as wisemen, all summer to hide the track marks. I could have moved back in with my parents, but then they’d know Tammi had left. I spent days watching birds and holding my breath—scared of knocking them off course.

Chris Dolan works in the automotive industry and is the founding editor of One Fall Review. He is angry about the nitrate levels in Iowa’s drinking water. Reader at Black Fox Literary Magazine and Flash Fiction Magazine. Chris’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Strange Horizons, Maudlin House, and The Disappointed Housewife. Find him on Bluesky @mcdolan.bsky.social or at dolanchris.com.

AMANDA GARZIA: Statement Piece

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

The cross-studded cuff is my signature, now.

No hooks. No clasps. But not why.

The Knights’ octet of virtues? Not quite.

Forced forward, buffeted by Things That Must Be Done—cancel morphine, draft causa mortis, submit to rising reminders for hubby’s apparel.

Wrist adorned, I’m eight again, emulating Wonder Woman.

At age 12, Amanda created Penpal Magazine. She has written for Times of Malta and anthologies by AotFFWC, Chris Fielden’s Authors of the Flash Fiction Writing Challenges. She is one of six administrators of this global group’s Facebook page.

SAMEEKSHA V: Ghost at the Feast

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

One day, we’ll meet for lunch; surprise me! Alfredo for me & arrabbiata for you. You’ll talk like nothing’s changed and I’ll hope you choke on everything you never said. The waiter hands me the bill & your old leftover laugh haunts me. You still haven’t come to surprise me!

Sameeksha is a reader, writer, and a soon-to-be engineering student. When she’s not busy gobbling down books, you can find her drinking filter coffee or talking about drinking filter coffee. You can find her on sameeksha.me or @samvksha.

MICHAEL THEROUX: Ya Gotta Wonder

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Me? I shoulda got it years ago. I’ve used up a cat and a half. When you don’t know why you’re still around, you gotta wonder. What’ll it be: one more bite, when enough’s enough? The Mundane is going to get you, when you’ve dodged all the Really Big Stuff.

He Is, therefore he writes. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t, so when he’s not, he won’t anymore. He thinks…