Tag: death
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Firefly by Warren Benedetto
Missy caught the firefly in mid-air, cupping her hands around it to form a tiny, dark cave. She could feel the insect’s delicate footsteps tickling her skin as it wandered across her palm, searching for a way out. “Got you!” she whispered, victorious. It was almost dark. The sunset was nothing but a burnt orange…
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No Place for Freya by Philip Andrew Lisi (A Prose Poem)
Nature is in crisis because of us, but we do not seem to care…there is no room for Freya in Norwegian waters.¹ Freya was named for the Norse goddess of love and beauty. Ironic for a walrus weighing over a thousand pounds, wearing a gash in her left flipper, sporting a pink clam-shaped tattoo imprinted…
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The Festival by Jeff Lewis
There was a festival that day,I don’t remember what it was called.I remember the soft curve of her cheek,I remember the way she padded gentlyacross the earthas though afraid of leaving a permanent mark.I remember her cries of delightas I won the little stuffed tigerafter seven futile attempts.I remember how she carried it in her…
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Mercy for Miss Bint by Sandra Arnold
All twelve of us were in Mercy’s room lounging on her bed when the new housekeeper strode in without knocking and introduced herself. We clamped our lips and nodded, blank-face polite. But as soon as she marched out again and slammed the door behind her we collapsed into hysterical laughter. “Oh my God! Who’d…
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My Last Kid’s Table by Alan Brickman
Last Thanksgiving, I swore that it would be the last time I sat at the kids table. The vagaries of fertility, birth rates, and parental callings within my extended family had left me, at fifteen, the youngest teenager and the oldest “kid.” When we sat for dinner last year, I looked around and was humiliated…
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Wednesday’s Road by David Swan
Nobody could figure out what he wanted with that car. For years he’d proudly hung on to his restored ‘71 Camaro, then out of the blue had bought an electric, the kind that could drive itself most of the time. “Oh, I thought it was time for a change,” was all he said. His daughters,…
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The Choice by Michael Cooney
“A choice, made now, today, projects itself backwards in time and changes past actions.” – Czeslaw Milosz, quoting an unknown disciple of Karl Jaspers I made excuses, rejectingwhat I knew of mortality, eitheryours or mine, and suddenlythe black leaves grew greenwhere they had fallen and you,rapturous with rings on yourfingers, gestured to mefrom the courtyard…
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Distant Fear by Rock Martinez
I was there when you were bornFar out in a distant placeI felt your heartbeat as if it was my own I saw your eyes openI’ll see them close. With each year that has passedI’ve grown closer to youOne day destiny will make us oneThis place will remain yours until that day comesIf you knew…
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Lingering Ice by Mari Benson
The sun was bright as Adrianne stepped out of her house and settled the large black hat on her head. The well-worn, floppy brim had been trained to fold just so in order to perfectly keep the sun from her eyes without impeding her vision. It provided the well needed relief for her to see…