The story of the week for May 15 to 19 is…
Woman-ness by Kelli Short Borges
JIM LEE SR: To Eat or Feed
The food is running low.
Well, for everyone except those things on the street.
With each desperate attempt, those creatures have something more to eat.
I’m in a state of living death, hiding in this building.
If I can escape, I live.
If I fail, I feed the living death.
Jim Lee Sr. has been writing for himself for decades. But he has decided to try to write for others now. He lives alone under the often overcast, drizzling sky of Western Washington State. A dreary, cold, and desolate existence… But he likes it.
BJ LOUIS: Eulogy for Youth
I am spending time with myself, loathing the thing, with August slicking my back. I have given myself entirely to the ground, grass imprinting my flesh. The blades hold me as I form shapes in the clouds—even the dark ones. A Mourning Dove cries for me and I sing.
BJ Louis’ poetry has appeared in numerous Red Penguin Anthologies, and his short fiction has been published in Bloom Literary Magazine. His works focus on themes of queerness and coming of age. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Hofstra University, where he currently teaches. He is from Long Island, New York.
LIZ MAYERS: Yard Sale Prodigal
I knew the flowered china well. Every chip. Every crack. She accepted $25, pretended not to know me. Shuttling boxes to my car, I debated asking for forgiveness. For scramming and dumping responsibilities on her. I watched awhile as my sister haggled over our deceased parents’ chattel, then drove away.
Liz is inspired by the tiny fiction of other writers. Find her at LizMayers.com.
KHOP MÖRICKE: Apple Tree
The snow-white blossoming apple tree lured her out. Behind her squeaked the kitchen door. Too late now. Her hands began to tremble. She didn’t turn, she kept her eyes fixed on the blossom. To be a small bird in spring, she thought, darting around, singing, no worries. Too late now.
KHOP Möricke is just living along in the Netherlands. In 2012, KHOP published a book titled 50 easy pieces.
EM ARATA-BERKEL: Turning Fourteen
Mum made the cake, and Claire prepped the living room for sleeping bags. They’d all been so busy lately, but she knew Monica would love the snacks, Liz the horror movie. Hopefully, Kim would zip their bags together like last year.
Claire waited with perfumed wrists.
The doorbell didn’t ring.
Em Arata-Berkel enjoys creative writing, picking their own fruit, and hosting tabletop roleplaying games.
CHRISTIAN GURROLA: Brothers
I went to see my brother. It had been a while. There was a lot of, “Yeah, for sure,” and nodding heads. Then silence. He put on the Lakers.
We were latchkey kids, together alone for years.
Now it’s, “We should hang out.”
“Yeah, for sure.”
Looking around, nodding heads.
Christian Gurrola is a writer.
KELLI SHORT BORGES: Woman-ness
Her husband calls her moody, calls her hysterical, calls her off-the-rails. Tells her to calm down—blames it on her woman-ness. So she breaks herself into pieces, tucks each piece inside a pillbox, compartments labeled: Sadness. Fear. Disappointment. Fury. Each day she sets a timer, remembers to swallow them down.
Kelli Short Borges is a writer of essays, short stories and flash fiction. A former reading specialist in the Arizona public school system, Kelli is a life-long reading enthusiast. Her work has been published at The Tahoma Literary Review, The Citron Review, MoonPark Review, The Dribble Drabble Review, and Ghost Parachute, among other publications. Kelli is a 2022 Best of the Net and 2023 Best Microfictions nominee. She is currently working on her first novel.
TERRI MULLHOLLAND: On Being the Granddaughter
I wasn’t what you wanted or expected. I was always too loud, too dark, too sharp. Like your daughter, who ran off into the night. All you wanted was to keep her safe. Now you tell me stories, about a girl in a red coat who looked like a wolf.
Terri Mullholland (she/her) is a writer and researcher living in London, UK. Her flash fiction has appeared in various journals and anthologies, including Ellipsis Zine, Litro, Mercurious, and Toasted Cheese. Her pamphlet of hybrid pieces Weather / Patterns was published by intergraphia books in October 2022. When not writing she can be found curled up with one of her many foster cats and a good book. See more at terrimullholland.com.
MICHAEL THEROUX: Cats on the Back Deck
Cats on the back deck voice hot contention, breaking in on my dreams. I yell for Quiet…
Considering their request, a thought weighs in even as I roll back over: Is God this callous?
Perhaps the Eternal wakes to my own howl, weighs the irritating thought, and rolls back over.
Michael Theroux writes from his cubby-hole home office in Northern California. Michael is presently shifting from decades of developing and publishing science-based socio-political works toward publication of poetry and fiction. Much more satisfying…