Tag Archives: life

YASH SEYEDBAGHERI: Bar Light

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Jukebox plays The Eagles. I nurse Amaretto Sours. One drawn-out sip, another. I absorb dim lights, make up stories. I’m a writer, pianist, actor. I join people in losing at pool, laugh over lost shots, forget bills, stacks of tests, and somnolent students. Laugh until dull stars lead me home.

Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA program in fiction. His stories, “Soon,” “How To Be A Good Episcopalian,” and “Tales From A Communion Line,” were nominated for Pushcarts. Yash’s work has been published in The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Write City Magazine, and Ariel Chart, among others.

NELLY SHULMAN: Emerald Fingers

Submissions, Touching, , ,

Watering a plant on the balcony, he glanced across the street, comparing his withering creature with a lush garden opposite. His neighbor’s eyes were green, her fingers were emerald. Taking a leaflet from his mailbox, “Plant care for busy professionals”, he smiled for the first time since losing his job.

Nelly Shulman is an author of four popular historical novels in the Russian language. She is working on the fifth novel in this series and on the non-fiction book about the Russian revolution. She is a recepient of three literary awards. nellyshulman.com

STELLA FERNANDEZ: Under an Apple Tree

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

On a warm summer day,
I lay down under an apple tree.
Slowly dozing away,
I remembered the good old days
and wished to be younger again
to experience the joy,
I once had.
Suddenly, I realized:
One day, I will remember today
and will wish to relive it again.

Stella Fernandez loves reading and writing.

EVAN HARRIS: Portable Skills

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

From the narrow galley behind a testy espresso machine, the beautiful seeker kid navigates coworkers, regulars, the tip game, and a sprained left ankle. Nose manual nollie shuv out. A fluke. Time heals, youth conceals, and this one’s already gaining the precipice, getting a decent jump on the unknowable gap.

Evan Harris is the author of The Quit.

BELINDA SAVILLE: Pivot

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

I furnish a trail of breadcrumbs, teardrops on pavement, as we leave the psychologist’s office.

“Your son has autism.”

Your tiny hand finds mine as we walk, my mind somersaulting over what our life will look like now.

“Mum, can I get a milkshake?”

Nothing changed.

Everything changed.

Belinda Saville is a Sydney-based jeweller who started writing to help her teenage daughter with high school English and find the joy therein. She is infatuated with the inherent beauty of gemstones, and of the written word.

REB ELKIN: The Book You Hold

Artistic, Odd, Submissions, , ,

The book in your hands is an antique. The cover appears featureless at first, but look carefully and you will see some faint markings. A face. Your own, but much older.

Wherever you send the book —a thrift store, the trash— it will always make its way back to you.

Reb Elkin writes science fiction & fantasy. See more at rebelkinwriter.com.

RON. LAVALETTE: Double Yolk – Over Easy

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

He’d been taught that cracking an egg and finding a double yolk was a good omen. Today he discovered it isn’t always true. He opened one this morning, before anyone else was awake; before they found him in the kitchen; before they called the ambulance; before it drove away, slowly.

Ron. Lavalette lives on Vermont’s Canadian border. His poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction has been very widely published in both print and pixel forms. His first chapbook, Fallen Away (Finishing Line Press), is now available at all standard outlets. A reasonable sample of his published works can be found at EGGS OVER TOKYO.

EVAN HARRIS: Eating at 11:00

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The boys started cooking hours ago. One is out looking for Parmesan. One took on salsa from scratch. One starts talking road trip, and the music kicks in. Dub. Pinball patterns on a cresting verge. Parmesan’s got a Land Cruiser, bum tail light, and it could all go either way.

Evan Harris is the author of The Quit.

LORRAINE CHRISTIE: Pre-Mortem

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

She sang in the shower
She kissed her spouse
She baked cookies with her children
She listened to her friend complain
She folded the laundry and swept the floor
She laughed at a silly joke
She walked the family dog
On the same day she went for her last jog.

Lorraine Christie enjoys drinking coffee while unscrambling word jumbles.

JOHN HANSEN: Here and Gone

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The night smells of dirt and scratches on my lungs.
In pin-pricked blackness I search the heavens.
Out of the northeast a meteor streaks;
tangential, it’s snapped up and devoured whole.

This August night,
seen by me and you,
no longer with child,
its insides desolate, yearning for a meteorite.

John Hansen received a BA in English from the University of Iowa and an MA in English Literature from Oklahoma State University. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Summerset Review, Verse-Virtual, Trouvaille Review, One Sentence Poems, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Eunoia Review, Amethyst Review, Sparks of Calliope, and elsewhere. He is English Faculty at Mohave Community College in Arizona. Read more at johnphansen.com.