I held onto the flower, hoping for the petals to reveal the truth. Pluck, He loves me.Pluck, Pluck. Pluck. Finally, Last Petal! He Loves Me Not!
It ended on Not, therefore I plucked out the pain of my broken heart through my veins. He didn’t even come to my funeral. I’m grateful my flower petals were right.
Laura Hickman
After dessert, stand up quickly. People always turn in the direction
of sudden movement.
Make your announcement loud and clear. A sound on par with hearing
the cry of your first child leaving the womb, an utterance that causes
instant jealousy from those who do not have someone that clings to
their every breath.
Wait a few seconds. Orders stop being taken. Forks rest on tongues.
Toasts interrupted, glasses still in the air.
Come closer. Kneel down.
Say it again, softly this time.
Jackson Lawford
Insert shame here. Input sorrow over there. Guilt can be thrown away. It only aids in aging you. The trigger feels soft in your hand. This is unusual. Carefully aim and blissfully fire. Your target may change but your focus and intention had better not.
Josh Thompson
After the reality and mythology of this story switch places, after every detail of this situation has been forgotten, people will still speak of her beauty. Oh yes, she is beautiful, but beneath her beauty is the sort of corruptness that will keep storytellers and adventurers spellbound their entire lives.
offbeatjim wittenberg
Billy took acid and blatzed on into a 7-11, holding his dick like he hoped the store guy would think the thing was an Uzi.
The guy laughed and pulled out a .38 special.
Sadder but wiser, Billy decided to stick with the weed, assuming he ever made bail.
Robert Crisman
Her rear is a mandolin, smooth as maple. She’s my alibi, but she won’t testify. I run my hand down her flank to the shattered bone and face her. White diamond forehead, heart-broke-eyes. The state of Pennsylvania will send me to death row, but I was justified. The damn veterinarian was going to shoot her.
Gay Degani
Night after night, the bar’s neon sign drags me back like an umbilical cord.
I gaze out of the window as an old man zig-zags across the road, oblivious to the mob of traffic. The barman licks his lips and his eyes glitter and glow with each near miss.
Home
Paul D. Brazill
public service
ADM: making mass-extinction taste better
* * *
Trish,
a vegan until she heard the bibb lettuce screaming
Tommy Mac
She had the most beautiful legs. Until they ran her off a bridge. An unnamed fisherman found her on a Tuesday morning taking up space in his favorite spot in the lake. There was a willow tree that hung overhead. It had a knack for shaking in the breeze. The newspapers said that he caught six trout that day.
Joshua Bernstein
