FLASH

Small but mighty, these short, incisive pieces cut to the core in a just a few words.
Teeth and Boyfriends

With great reluctance, I agree to meet a cousin for an outside lunch…

Out of the Harbor and Into the Open Sea

I’d never heard of anyone having a second baby right after the first one, but everything was so strange in those early days of motherhood that I just acted on instinct.

Post Pregnancy Examination (Shortened Form)

Infant’s Name: A
Delivery Date: August 1, 2002

Junk

It was spring and the hills were irradient, like they had to get out all their green in one short burst before catching fire.

Damn Good Listener

I know you shouldn’t keep wild animals as pets, but I’ve had the same spider in my bathroom sink for over two weeks.

forest fire
When The Ten Thousand Ton Trilobite Attacked

We said, Heck, that’s really something.

The Rift

None speak of how the streets collide in coarse seams like scars, the fresh cobbles unable to level with the ones shaken from their mortar by uncountable seasons.

Sisters of the Divine Apparatus

The day does not conclude with the gentle exhale of the earth, but with Mother Superior flipping the hourglass over, again.

Smile.

At twenty, the world is yours because you’re beautiful. But never acknowledge your beauty, or it makes you a bitch.

view of earth from space
The Scattering

Allanson looked out of the viewport, at the ragtag flotilla of ships trailing behind, some of them slow to catch up. It was to be expected with the little time that they’d had to cobble the fleet together.

Theoretical Debate

On the first day of our new life together, my husband realized that I was not interested in theoretical debate. He said it was okay by him and went out to get some pancake mix.

artwork with Venus
Light Pencils

The weeks go like this: accepting, horny, hopeful, sad. I’m four different people trying to establish one perspective on a major life event – on the creation of life itself.

Cost of Care

I reached for my invoice, which Dr. George, holding it between thumb and forefinger as if it were a soiled diaper, dropped into my hand.

graffiti on cement
Slabs

We drifted junk with a sledgehammer looking for juice. Sometimes the rage.

Rose By Any Other Name

Kate Winslet always reminded me of my mom. Maybe that’s why, even to this day, I get defensive of Rose from Titanic when people call her stupid or shallow…

Little Cow

A man with a fistful of showbags said, “That cow sounds like a person trying to sound like a cow.”

dead roses
The Cycle

It all started with the curse of my tits. Women’s bodies are cursed. Everyone tries to look at them, everyone tries to ignore them.

The Sweetness

I’m dancing with my best friend’s husband, under the influence of his jaws and thighs.

In Rare Cases…

You’re joking, I say, interrupting the steady bumping of the doctor’s bushy white mustache.

Swoon

Jenna says that he typically goes for redheads, so I run to Target and buy a box of hair dye.