“Fuck” is etched into the outside wall of the video store. Molly Silver traces her index finger through the “fuck” and goes into work. “You’re late,” says Ellen, long in the tooth, toothed in gaps. “No I’m not.” Ellen looks at the clock, “Yeah, I guess you’re not.” “It says ‘fuck’ on the wall, you … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: September 2014
Night Walking Woman — Rochelle Weidner
He took me cause I was one of the few women of marriage age. There were too-young ones and too-old ones, some ugly, some deformed, but I had all my limbs and was half-decent to look at, so we were wed. He was ashamed about my mother and would not talk about her, and cautioned—no, … Continue reading
Ten Book Challenge
In the past month or so, there’s a been a “ten book challenge” going around Facebook asking participants to list ten books that have influenced them in any way. I avoided participating for a while, just because how am I supposed to only list ten books that have influenced me? Every book, every story, every … Continue reading
Places to Change — Nick Bertelson
I. Misstep Coty and I made the pact in sixth grade. If Osama Bin Laden wasn’t dead by the time we graduated high school, the two of us would join the army and kill him ourselves. All through lower school, Coty played with other kids’ ears. I remember his hands, as dry as cork board, … Continue reading
Autumn Idol — Dennis Vannatta
It wasn’t that the man sitting on the second floor patio of the office building was especially unobservant; it was just that at this particular hour of the day—twelve-to-one, his lunch hour—he neither needed nor wanted to be observant. In his job as a C.P. A. for an accounting firm, he spent his workday in … Continue reading
A Reading by Linh Dinh
“Let’s keep this as informal as possible.” An exuberant performer reads to a quiet lecture hall at Coe College. He shuffles constantly, pauses to emphasize his statements, lifting an expressive face for eye contact. This turns a four-line poem into an engaging spectacle. He brings the expansive world view of a restless explorer and observer … Continue reading
Flash Fiction Friday — Solar Flares
“Solar Flares” by Kirsten Nelson They say the light fades from your eyes when you die. Are you fucking kidding me? That’s like saying the earth is moving farther and farther away from the sun, but the last time I caught the news, this headline in bold letters screamed out to the public: “NEAR MISS: … Continue reading
Phipp — Susan Taylor Chehak
When Jackson Bale crossed the line to collide head-on with a ten ton semi-trailer truck on a Tuesday evening early in November, I was the one who stood up first at the emergency meeting and volunteered to go out to the farmhouse to feed the dog and bring it to the school for Jack’s widow … Continue reading
The Eating Rules — Dwight Hilson
I had turned 12 before the summer my parents put me on a train for the three-day journey west—to the Tanner Brothers Wilderness School. The place sounded compelling at first: climb mountains, shoot rifles, explore seldom-trod canyons on horseback, and learn all the skills you might need if you ever were to survive a plane … Continue reading
Of Poetical reflections and reflective poetry.
It’s the weekend, I am staring mindlessly at a blank word document -which, in actual fact should be filled with typed letters seeing as it is an assignment due for quite the looming date- whilst I wearily down a mug of black coffee. Yes, I am living the college life. Just not the standard one. … Continue reading
