FLASH

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

Greetings From Baja California!

Sitting at the bar on Pacific Avenue. With the seashells in the walls. Same bartender from last year, still here, making the same lethal Mai Tais.

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.

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.

Athena, the Octopus, Solves a Puzzle

The new octopus at the children’s aquarium was named Athena, and as we waited for her to emerge, I thought of the almost-too-faint second line on the pregnancy test three days before.

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.

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.

Here in East Greenwich

He used to hold my hand on Commonwealth. I wonder sometimes if he ever still thinks about my mouth.

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.

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.

Laika Came Home

When Laika the space dog comes back, bulleted to earth in a tiny white escape pod that dissolves upon opening, nobody can believe it.

The Bird That Carried One Hundred Messages To America

At the end of the meeting, the villagers agreed to contribute shillings and pounds to sponsor Elochi to a university in America.

rotarty phone
My Wife’s Phone

Sex is not a thank you card in this house.

graffiti on cement
Slabs

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

forest fire
When The Ten Thousand Ton Trilobite Attacked

We said, Heck, that’s really something.

Alan Rickman and the Mermaids of the Conch Republic

Sound engineers believe Alan Rickman possessed the perfect male voice. Early acting teachers told him he sounded like he was speaking from the back of a drainpipe.

photo of windshield
Mother and Her Remains

Mama sped along the highway, unbothered by bits of gravel that flew up from the front tires and struck the windshield of the sedan.

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.

In Rare Cases…

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