Untitled
Caitlin Colford
The wind settled, she fixed her hair, smoothing down the wiry strays, and Leanie waved her first goodbye for the last time.
The Picnic
Todd McKie
Mayonnaise, like love, spoils quickly, something Jill forgot because it was so goddamn hot and because she got so messed up on all those beers while Tim gobbled seconds, thirds, and then a final plateful of her famous tuna salad.
Ocean; Waiting
Meredith Carey
It always sounds like, but is never actually, a ship; only waves lapping endlessly at the side of the boat.
Silence on a White Porch
Lenny DellaRocca
Wasps perform white geometry without sadness or guitars
Breakers
Rachel Fenton
I see him at the beach in our favourite spot and call out, raise my arm enthusiastically, giving my sunniest smile, swelling like the sea before the wave crashes down: it isn’t him standing, turning, where I scattered his ashes and it’s beginning to rain.
Date Night
Tara Deal
I asked my stalker not to follow me home tonight, so he lied and said, all right.
Sometimes in My Lungs But
Kathleen Radigan
Most days I felt it pressing in my diaphragm, the weight of all I haven’t said.
Clinic
R. Gatwood
Overworking leads to overpartying, and patients arrive still burning at both ends.
Prey
Sandra Kay
Outside in the dark, an owl nabs a rabbit and a cat chases mice, while I play poker online and lose my rent.
Catchin’ Out
Dan Powell
Riding the rails of the States, dismounting a piggyback flatbed, Arlo left a leg behind, exhausting his remaining years hopping freight cars, chasing his hobo limb to the horizon.
What I’m Doing in the Road
David Combs
I like to look to the top of the tallest trees, an exercise in scope by a socially anxious introvert who only wants the proper perspective.
Frosty
T.S. Mallow
Their love was a winter kind of love, snow blind and frigid, icicles hanging precariously from the eaves of their pasts.
Natural History
Steve Russomano
Once behind the glass, I grew even more depressed; Homo erectus was now strangely inanimate, while the people outside seemed more and more simian as their voices and gestures amplified.
You Can’t Miss what You Forget
David Kinsey
As he pulled into the driveway, he noticed that the red ribbon was no longer tied to his finger and wondered if this was even still his home.
