Category: Fiction
-
Jura by Iona Marcellino
Ebb and flowOf slate wavesOn pebble-stoned sandSoft calls of swans and sealsReclaiming their magicLandAncient bramblesTorn along edgesOf churches and fieldsFaithfully protectingThe hills, the lakes, the gin,The solitary yield.Final light on the sea,Otters whisper,Salt crests crash,Bending that grey skyBack to me. Iona Marcellino is a Scottish born poet, writer, and TCK…
-
A Joke Foretold by Nostradamas by Ricardo Quinones
The Duke bombarded Venice—the Doge cried, “God have mercy!”but cries no more—death is witless—and skiffs halt—abreast, our sea. The Emperor in Paris—in repose, sits he, unstirred.He dreams of fair Helen’s kissand consults the augur’s birds. “Three weeks more! Four’s too many.What am I taken for? A foolin full jest? It’s…
-
Background Noise by Michael Boss
I didn’t notice the fridgeuntil the power went out.And then I missed its steady faith—a presence that said: still here.The air conditioner’s wheeze,the neighbor’s dog at 3 a.m.,traffic bleeding through windows,a distant ocean—all of it,the unnoticed orchestrathat scores our sleep.We call it noise.It’s prayer.The drone of machinesthat keep us alive,the…
-
Cotter Pin by Martin Indars
Tibet’s oppressed. Arctic ice is getting thin. But all I need is a cotter pin.If not that a bolt or rivet may dofor my troubles now are small -their fixes are too. I know, I know Australia’s coral is bleaching while my countrymen celebrate science’s death. But first I’ll go…
-
It’s Hard for Me to Tell My Brother I Love Him, So Instead I Write a Story by Alice Kinerk
The word addiction comes from Latin. It means to surrender. A drug addict is a person who has given over his or her life to a substance, who has given drugs the helm. The first time my brother went to rehab, he was fifteen and I was six. I…
-
The Blue Binder by Jonathan Ferrini
Victor grew up inside a trailer park with dilapidated trailers packed together like tuna in a rusty old can. His grandmother’s trailer smelled of cleaning supplies; the scent she brought home from cleaning offices overnight. She raised Victor alone after his mother abandoned him for a life as a hippie…
-
Johnny Ace at the Pearly Gates by Jeffrey Hantover
Johnny Ace (John Marshall Alexander, Jr.)December 25, 1954 The last week in December was always a busy period for St. Peter. Many of the infirm and the aged who willed themselves to make it to Christmas expired a day or two after the holiday having triumphantly crossed the finish line.…
-
Altered by Christina Rousseau
There’s a peculiar amount of freedomthat comes with losing everything. The colors of my life dance around meas they are stripped away. Rosy reds of my blood that once washed my cheeksreminding me that I could feel. Soft purples of being held. They gather on my skin and detach from…
-
Politics of the Dog & Pangea in Wartime by William Dell Price
Politics of the Dog I love dogs more than people.Dogs are quiet, people are loudAnd when dogs are loud, there is a muzzle for themYou put a muzzle on a person, you’re called “mad” Dogs don’t need clothesWe accept them nudeYou force someone to walk naked, it’s called “abuse” You…