Tag Archives: change

ANGELICA JIMENEZ: Thinking It Through

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

Pigeons are just a type of bird. Like a peacock. Like the beautiful swan at the lake.

“Look, daddy! So pretty!” a five-year-old coos.

From a distance, an old woman watches the lively duo as she tosses bread to a pigeon.

“Who says we ugly ducklings are better off changing?”

Angelica Jimenez is a teenage writer who currently serves as an editor for her high school’s literary magazine, Sin Fronteras. She has also been published in Friday Flash Fiction and has served as a community ambassador at Write the World, a global platform for teenage writers.

MARIA CARGILLE: self-conference

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , ,

myself at fifteen and twenty-two
sit down together in a half-imagined
coffee shop to compare notes.

she, my seven-years-ago self,
looks me up and down with curiosity,
quick insecurity-laden belligerence,
and speaks a challenge:

“you haven’t changed much.”

I say, warm and aching,
“oh, my love, believe me: I have.”

Maria Cargille wrote this story.

CECILE PECORARO: A Watched Pot Always Boils if You Wait Long Enough

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

She watched the pot. And it did boil. The water bubbled slowly at first, then rapidly. Her face was so close that a drop of the hot liquid splashed in her eye, waking her up from denial. It was true. All true. She had to accept it. And move on.

Cecile lives in Northern California where she enjoys the best weather in the world.

ELLEN TOWNSEND: Downstairs at the Community Centre

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

The salsa class had bass music thumping, floor vibrating, dancers spinning, skirts swirling, and sweat glistening, but upstairs, in the committee meeting, it was austere. Where clock ticks were amplified, the treasurer led, the chairperson’s seat empty.

Downstairs, Lorraine mopped her brow. The wrong room. An epiphany, daring something new.

Ellen Townsend is an art teacher and writer. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Flash Fiction Magazine, Friday Flash Fiction, 50-Word Stories and others.

TRACY ROYCE: Field Trip Head Count

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Old Mr. Walker tallied twelve sixth graders fiddling with phones, seven chatting, two shoving each other, and zero displaying any interest in the ancient artifacts. He sighed. As the teacher’s aide led the class into the next gallery, Mr. Walker remained behind, receding into the shadows among the other relics.

Tracy Royce’s work appears in 101 Words, Blink-Ink, The Dribble Drabble Review, Five Minutes, and elsewhere.

RACE HARISH: We Will Never Forget How to Talk to Each Other

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

“The Bagel Place closed.” We grieve in my car.

We’re wasting gas; it’s more important to keep the music on. My parking pass still hangs from the rearview. I still think you’re the only person in the world who loves me.

Why is the sky here smaller than I remember?

Race Harish is an eighteen-year-old writer and poet currently studying in Williamsburg, Virginia. Some of their work can be found in Cast of Wonders, 3Elements Literary Review, and Blue Marble Review.

JAMES SCHWARTZ: The Belle Isle Bard

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Raffaello Romanelli’s statuary on Belle Isle connects the Old World to today, bridging Dante Alighieri to Detroit city.

For nearly a century the monument of the great poet has gazed stonily at beach‐goers as Motown mixed with techno and summer sunshine turned to winter snows, between occasional community restoration.

James Schwartz is a Detroit based poet and author of various poetry collections including The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America and most recently Big Island Beatnik. See more at literaryparty.blogspot.com.

RITA RIEBEL MITCHELL: Cartwheeling Mama

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , ,

Drippy red wax stained the white carpet where the lava lamp leaked after it tumbled off the table and cracked open when Sandy kicked it while demonstrating for her ten-year-old daughter the one-handed cartwheels she performed at high school football games before she got pregnant and had to quit cheerleading.

Rita Riebel Mitchell writes in the Pinelands of South Jersey where she lives amongst the trees with her husband. Her work appears in HAD, Flash Fiction Magazine, Versification, and more. Find her at ritariebelmitchell.com/friday-micro.

RG HALSTEAD: Change is Bad

Amusing, Submissions, , , , ,

Just for a change, Norman stood and waited at a different bus stop this morning. The next stop after his usual one.

Alone, he waited and waited. The bus was late.

Looking down the street, Norman saw his bus. It was stopped and waiting for him at his usual stop.

R.G. Halstead grew up reading old Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazines from the late 1950’s and ’60s. The ones with twisty endings.

COLBY WRASSE: Birthday Cards Made by Little Hands

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

My daughter’s face no longer reminds me of the little girl who ran to hug me every night. The bedtime stories I told her have been forgotten. Her world is full of complexity, and mine is missing something. She crosses the stage and walks the aisle, further away from me.

Colby Wrasse has worn many different hats in his life. None of them fit very well, but he has faked it well enough to get by alright. Through these years writing in some form has flitted in and out of his life, coming to rest just long enough to catch a glimpse.