Category Archives: Artistic

J CHRIS LAWRENCE: Swallowed By the Dark

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

He came in the night and had his way, leaving evidence in the trunk. Yet, by popped tire and flipped car, he woke to find her gone.

Through the trees he ran, catching fleeting sight of pale gown. Swallowed by the dark, he found only silence, and her cold embrace.

Born in the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia, J. Chris Lawrence spent much of his life traveling, exploring the various cultural facets of American life. With a love for dark fiction, he fancies himself a writer, and hopes to make a profession of it. He currently lives in Georgia with his wife and two sons. Find out more at jchrislawrence.com or follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/JCLFiction

Through the Flames

Amusing, Artistic, , , ,

I could barely see him through the smoke, a wispy silhouette, dancing and swaying to the rhythmless music of the crackling bonfire. His erratic movements transported me to some other place, a far-off, magical land. He was ethereal, mesmerizing, screaming…

Screaming!?

“DON’T JUST STAND THERE! MY PANTS ARE ON FIRE!!”

This story was based on the prompt “through the flames” at TypeTrigger.

Safety Hazard

Artistic, , , ,

My wife spotted the chip in our car’s windshield first. “That’s a safety hazard,” she said.

“It’s no big deal,” I replied, but when I bumped out of the driveway it split into a larger crack. I was staring disgustedly at the crack when I missed the stop sign.

Crunch.

Bitter

Artistic, ,

Mara’s seasoning shop specialized in rare spices.

As a Jewish woman, barely scraping by amid the loneliness of big-city life, she found it pleasantly validating that her most profitable time of year was Passover, when hundreds of customers came to her for bitter herbs.

Occasionally she wondered: was this irony?

This story was based on the prompt “bitter herbs” at TypeTrigger.

The Terminus

Artistic,

The train arrived without fanfare, spewed its longsuffering human cattle onto the platform, and puffed away to the yard to be cleansed.

At the terminus of their life-changing one-way voyage, five hundred grimy faces searched for any sign of welcome.

Another train packed full of immigrants whistled its impending arrival.

TIM SEVENHUYSEN: Shastonbury

Artistic, Poetry, , , , ,

In Shastonbury children weep
for want of food and lack of sleep.
They drink the rain and talk to sheep
in the ancient town of Shastonbury.

Shastonbury, I’ve heard tell,
is like a wetter form of Hell.
They rue the clouds and curse the smell,
the shepherd boys of Shastonbury.

GARY CLIFTON: Longhand

Artistic, Submissions,

In the ward, pudgy little T.O. Wilson, a prisoner of his own mind, spent all day, every day, writing “T.O.” in spit on the back of his hand or the floor or wherever. A hopeless lifer, if he still lives, by now he’s surely worn that finger to a nub.

Gary Clifton was forty years a Federal officer, has an M.S. from Abilene Christian University and has short fiction pieces published in Spinetingler, Broadkill Review, Yellow Mama, and Dumb Butt Mag.

The Inauspicious Tale of Adolphus Finnegan

Artistic, Touching, , , ,

Mister Adolphus Finnegan was a pleasant chap, if a little seclusive. His daily forest-path meanderings were routed so as to minimize chance meetings with other meanderers. He called these his “refreshing ambulations”, and continued them well into his elderhood.

He lived a long, well-refreshed, pleasant, but secluded kind of life.

This story was based on a title provided by @Keab42.

PAT ST. PIERRE: She Needed the Money

Artistic, Submissions,

Tim and Kate had an unemotional relationship. They both used each other for convenience.

One day during an encounter when Tim was taking advantage of Kate his heart failed. She felt no emotion. In his wallet she found $3,000.00.

She kept it but gave the church a donation on Sunday.

Pat St. Pierre has been writing poetry, fiction, and nonfiction since her college days. She tries to capture small vignettes of life and turn them into poems. Her 2nd published chapbook “Theater of Life” by Finishing Line Press contains such poems. Her fiction has been published in many places: Dew on the Kudzu, Fiction 365, Daily Love, Joyful, A Long Story Short, etc. She also has a love of photography and can be seen carrying her camera wherever she goes. She takes photos and then tries write her titles which also describe “snapshots” of everyday occurrences. Some of her photos can be viewed at: Ken*Again, Ramshackle Review, Pond Ripples, The Shine, The Camel Saloon, A Days Encounter, etc. She considers herself a literary “jack of all trades” and thoroughly enjoys what she does. Her blog is www.pstpierre.wordpress.com

JOANNA M. WESTON: Dietary Omissions

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, ,

She dieted for three weeks; avoided all soft drinks, steered clear of pie and ice cream. She ate salad for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; consumed plain yogurt by the quart; and drank green tea.

Now she stood on the scale. Weight loss: one pound.

The chocolate melted in her mouth.

Joanna M. Weston has had poetry, reviews, and short stories published in anthologies and journals for twenty-five years. Her middle-reader, ‘Those Blue Shoes’, was published by Clarity House Press, and her poetry, ‘A Summer Father’, was published by Frontenac House of Calgary. Her eBook, ‘The Willow Tree Girl’, is available at her blog or http://smashwords.com/b/137826.