JS O’KEEFE: Capsized

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Using a questionable metaphor, the chief prosecutor marveled why go down with the ship if not the captain. Then he reminded me of my allegorical status, a mere sailor.

I explained my rank didn’t matter because I am on the ship, it’s our ship, and there’s simply no other ship.

J. S. O’Keefe is a scientist, trilingual translator and writer. His short stories and poems have been published in Everyday Fiction, Roi Faineant, 101 Words, Spillwords, ScribesMICRO, 50WS, AntipodeanSF, Friday Flash Fiction, Spirit Fire Review, Medium, Paragraph Planet, WENSUM, 6S, Satire, MMM, etc.

STEPHEN TILDEN: Apricity

Artistic, Submissions, ,

Above, an azure layer so thin you can see the blackness of space behind. My eyes slide west across layers of green and yellow to a fire beyond the horizon, so deeply red that I could take comfort in its apparent warmth if the evening air wasn’t so bitingly cold.

Apricity is a favorite word of Stephen’s, especially during this time of year, meaning ‘warmth of the sun in winter.’

EILEEN MARDRES: The Most Beautiful Thing I ever Saw (Times Four)

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

Candles burning on the tree, greatest beauty that child could see, but children grow.
Then a mother seeing baby at her breast, what greater beauty could there be?
Until entranced, watching grandchildren leap and dance.
Still, there’s more. Son as grandfather, glowing bright, the greatest beauty a mother could see.

Eileen finds inspiration in her family.

DAVE BONNEY: A Simple Grace (after Julia Baird)

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , , ,

There is a cloud today.
Hangs shimmer silver
above the corner of the convent roof.

Says to me
Look up
Feel the hearts beating.

Tomorrow is Christmas
And the women who every morning hang their white robes out to dry
Will give food away in the lane behind my house.

Dave lives in Sydney, Australia and works across various creative disciplines.

ELENA SHAKHNOVSKY: Chili Pepper

Artistic, Submissions,

“I want a mug from the plant pot stories contest,” Nick says. “Join me?”

He’s a devil. He knows I’m a gambler.

I haven’t grown plants since I rubbed my eyes after harvesting chili in the flat I’ll probably never return to.

None of us needs another reason to cry.

Elena Shakhnovsky is a Tel Aviv-based writer, currently in the Creative Writing Program at Bar-Ilan University.

DOMINIC BOND: The Night

Adventure, Submissions, , , , , ,

Mary knows the night will eat her. She walks the streets, the smog like a marinade.

She hears children laugh, remembers the smell of their hair and feel of their hands.

Outside McDonald’s a man stands awkwardly. She knows him, knows his lack of agility. And the night watches, salivating.

Dominic is looking for employment as well as a way to describe the world around him. He writes poetry among other things and has been published online and in print in Driftwood Press, Poetry Birmingham and Kallisto Gaia magazines. He hopes he has something to say. He’s sure everyone does.

JOHN HOLMES: Punctuation Sale

Amusing, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

I was disappointed, discouraged and sad to miss out on last weeks Black Friday Bonanza at the Oxford Comma shop. However, my brothers friends mother said theres a closing down sale at Berts Apostrophe Store. Apparently its going into administration, but Im not that bothered; I never go there anyway.

John has recently had stories published in People’s Friend, 101 words, Paragraph Planet, Westword and FFF. He’s the author of ‘Rough Rides’ and ‘Short and Sweet and Sour’. Previous winner of The Times short story competition.

RACHEL DU MONT-GREENLEE: Time Crunch

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , ,

History: so much of it. All day in the ship’s library, she archives dates, names, places. Overwhelming at times, yes, storing the collective past in data files on the small, boxy tablet she holds. But someone, she says, will need it some day: the world’s story rests in her hands.

Rachel is a tricenarian Cultural Studies PhD candidate who researches historical preservation.

THOMAS MALLOCH: An Epiphany

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

On the evening of the twelfth day of Christmas, I lit a candle at our bedroom window, curtains open so that, framed by the darkness and the ice-rimed glass, the flame would seem to burn the brighter. A fitting first remembrance, my love.

Sometimes, even grief can be a gift.

Thomas Malloch is retired. Always a reader. Fancied writing. Sometimes gets published.