To write a poem,
Then
Craft a sentence,
Then
Utter a word,
Oh, and to
Cook a full meal,
Then
Butter toast,
Then
Hold a spoon,
And also to
Run,
Then
Walk,
Then
Crawl,
But for the joy of seeing you, dear child, learn to… [continue reading in reverse order]
Joanna Norland is a writing coach and playwright based in East Sussex, UK.
I met a man on the street recently who claimed that everything was a metaphor.
“Is that right?” I had asked him. “Because I’m pretty sure that’s a knife you got there.”
It was late, so I handed him my wallet, and that son of a gun stabbed me anyway.
Nick Mendillo is a Rhode Island-based writer, artist, and educator. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in outlets including Had Journal, Novellum Magazine, and NINE. He’s also a professional cheeseburger chef.
Deb moves between them with a coffee pot and no need for thanks. The old man takes her side of the booth now, watching the door the way she used to. When the bell rings, everyone looks up. Then looks back down. The red stools hold whoever comes.
Scott Burau is a writer living between Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Key West, Florida. His work has most recently appeared in San Antonio Review and Mouthful of Salt.
The demolition crew didn’t speak; they arrived in their crawler crane, set up, and struck. Space after space—a broken heart, wedding bells, a joyous birth, a thousand banquets, a million dance steps, three seductions, a betrayal, a midnight vigil, a wake. The wrecking ball swung back, then drove away.
Ralph Goldswain writes microfiction for pleasure in his London home. He also likes experiencing all the things London offers.
Once, I caught a rust-red crawdad in the muddy forest creek. I took him home to a plastic tank, where his red bled out to deathly white. Crying salt, I buried him in the garden.
I only watch the crawdads now, their ruby bodies moving fast beneath the water’s surface.
J.C. Pillard is a writer and editor living in Colorado. Her work has been published in Hearth Stories, Abyss & Apex, Corvid Queen, and elsewhere. When not writing, J.C. can be found gardening and playing too much D&D. Find more of her work at jcpillard.com.
They say the watchmaker on Church Street is so talented, his clockwork can slow time. Certainly, Mr Larson seems young for a shopkeeper. But he only smiles wearily when people ask him his secret. So many come and go that nobody notices he’s been working there since long before Dickens.
Dave Bradley’s words have appeared in publications such as Best Of British Science Fiction and Dorling Kindersley’s The Screen Traveller’s Guide, as well as various pop culture magazines and websites.
Four tanned old women sit on a wooden bench. Friends in shorts and colorful tops. No conversation. Each is working on a generous, diet-breaking, double-scooped ice cream cone on the sweltering day. They are happy, engrossed in the cold pleasures of their choices. No worries but the race against drips.
Lynn Kozlowski’s writing has appeared in such places as The Citron Review, The Zodiac Review, Molecule, 50-Word Stories, Every Day Fiction, The Dribble Drabble Review, and Friday Flash Fiction. He has a volume of short pieces, Historical Markers.
Bitter smoke clings to the rafters.
The corrugated shed is but a skeleton, creaking in the breeze.
Embers crackle hungrily in the paddocks, sending ashes dancing like butterflies in spring.
Beneath cracked soil, seeds awake.
Soon new life will sprout and the fire will linger only as a painful memory.
Collette Night is an Australian writer who crafts lyrical prose with bite, often circling themes of healing, memory, and the uncarved future. Her work seeks to take you elsewhere as you read—even if only for a moment. She has appeared in Starry Eyed Press and The Riot Collective, with forthcoming work in Trembling with Fear and Black Hare Press.
“I don’t like this place,” said my 100-year-old mom. She lives in an ARF. “I’m going to leave soon.”
“You’re lonely,” I responded. “I understand loneliness. Have you tried connecting with God?”
“Oh, don’t give me that mushy God talk.
I want to go home and be with my mother.”
A former journalist, Maria Miller is working on a novel while enjoying life in Spain.
If I could do it again, I’d worry less about the package and more about the contents; less about the calories, and more about nutrition; less about the cost, and more about the value; less about being liked, and more about being likeable; less about wanting, and more about thanking.
A prolific writer, Carol Reeves is loving the fun, freedom and challenge of Flash Fiction. Her stories frequently reflect on the blessings and vicissitudes of aging—and can be found in Flash Fiction Magazine and 50 Word Stories. Carol’s memoir, “All the Little Miracles,” was published in 2022.