Category: flash fiction

• November 11, 2022

  my friend.

  

  i was sitting on a stranger’s futon, counting sheep, when one happened to wander from the fence. came on over and bummed a smoke. helped itself to some wine. bright white and so very cloudy. after an hour or so, i felt that talking to a sheep couldn’t be any more crazy than watching one…
• October 29, 2022

  goblin.

  

  When we made it back from the woods, doors locked, triple bolted behind us, gray afternoon streaming in through the cracks, Milo handed me every implement, instructing what to do with each one. It was IMPORTANT, he said, and made it clear I needed to remember ALL OF THEM. But a single fleck of blood…
• October 28, 2022

  final night.

  

  Once they were certain the security guard was well into his skinny mag, the dolls came to life, met in the middle of the warehouse. Stood in a semicircle under a pool of tar-stained light. Various dresses, shapes, sizes, finger lengths, eye colors, even skin colors, because there had been changes over the past few…
• October 25, 2022

  broad daylight.

  

  At first, I didn’t know what I was seeing. Second glance solidifying the fact that, yes, there was a man crawling into the sewer. By the time I had rounded the corner where St. Patrick meets Palmyra, his head was already in the drain. So just a torso, legs, arms spread out across the pavement.…
• September 1, 2022

  i am a lefty.

  

  So I remember that certain sixth grade school in Santiago, where it was dictated that all children complete their written assignments strictly in fountain pen. Insert cartridge. Tap the tip long enough to make it wet. Get to work. Always what was assigned, rote. Always what was demanded, always cursive. And my born, raised and…
• August 17, 2022

  you were welcomed.

  

  So you heard of a place called New Orleans. And you were welcomed. Free license to walk the streets, a thousand or so back pocket pamphlets. You helped yourself to the food, possibly undertipped. Complained while complimenting. Took the tours, some of you without any intention of learning. Spoke the word “plantation” with a wistful…
• June 16, 2022

  next door.

  She would sit. Sit and be alone. Because she liked it. Because it was difficult. Because it was how it was supposed to be. Made no difference if it was a park, second to last seat of the downtown bus, middle of a crowded diner, following the upwards stroke of a brush along stretched canvas,…
• June 2, 2022

  Sable.

    Her footprints led to the ocean’s edge. She stood where the waves wouldn’t touch, naked toes just out of reach from the sea foam. Wasn’t sure of much anymore, but she sensed that any premature contact, when the moment arrived, would drag her away. Then down into the depths. The wind whipped at her…
• May 13, 2022

  letters of transit.

  They zoomed in from above. A cul-de-sac development posing as a neighborhood. Surrounded by nothing, producing nothing. Desert inconsistencies, layer-cake sideshow of red, yellow, and a dusty blue sky. A row of houses that bordered on the preordained. White siding, windows in perfect sync, lawns like decorative bellies, sprawling. Falling just short of sidewalks that…
• April 18, 2022

  backchannels.

  Waited until past one in the a.m. to open the window. Snuck out onto the rooftop. Well past curfew. Limber steps leaving bare impressions on shingles and corrupted gutters. Stealthy against the current of stars and an outdated moon, moving towards yesterday me. Taking it slow at the outset. Pressing my body close as patrol…