…he played poker and I tried to understand why an Ace, a card with no face on it, was considered superior to the King.
A Cloud the Shape of Kentucky by Ryan Kauffman
Tag: flash
I Take It Back by Warren Merkel
We make eye contact. What looks like raw fear is slicked across your face. I want to say, It’s okay, I won’t hurt you…
Scissors by Jane Marcellus
My mother called her brother’s scissors “the scissors” because they were the only ones we had.
Recipe for Salat Olivier by Alex Simand
Mothers are responsible for salads. Dozens of salads in a motley crew of bowls dug from the back of the cabinet for the occasion…
Before Lent by Jane Murray Bird
I killed the birds the day I left my husband. Three of them; no stones
Big Wigs by Colter Jackson
After they went home at night, my mother brought me with her to the factory to clean up after the Big Wigs, not to teach me how to clean, but to teach me how not to spend my life…
Newborn Sparrow by Teri McDowell Ott
Heading out the driveway, my finger searched for the START button on my sports watch as I prepared to stretch my body into a long mid-morning run.
Grocery Stories by Shaun Turner
On Tuesdays, old Appalachian men swarm the Kroger parking lot. In pairs, the old men wear polo shirts or plaid button-ups in primary colors.
The Saturday Before and After the Wednesday In Between by Joe Oswald
The convenience store is five blocks from home. I stop there often after work, and the manager smiles at me when I enter because I’m one of those husbands who after filling up with gas, stops in for soda, snacks, or anything else…
The Trouble with Loving Poets by Elizabeth Zaleski
The trouble with loving poets is that they leave a long paper trail. They want you to read it, too.
