He showed up wearing dark blue jeans, a dark shirt tucked in only emphasizing the size of his belt buckle. Despite the distance, she was sure he wore his sports coat complete with that fucking lapel pin the entire drive. His strawberry blonde hair toasted with a summer hue styled in the same pompadour it…
In Her Own Backyard
Written for a Tulip Tree Pub Contest; Submitted 10/30/19 The office had enough of her. From her dark brown roots breaking through the bottled blonde to her manicured toes displayed in open toe wedges. The tipping point started when her matching manicured and manufactured finger nails would crumple up assorted singles and five dollar bills,…
Betrayal at the Bungalow
“I’m not doing the job,” she said over her shoulder. The cord of her headphones snagged on her notebook as she turned the page and the corner. “Here is my phone number, it’s for the new address. Please send it out tomorrow.” She pressed end on her call; the open space of her bedroom waiting…
Strike of a Match
The small thin orangy line moved. Its little legs barely visible, just shadows dancing across the stained taupe cushion. Vermin, of an unknown origin. She wasn’t an entomologist, but statistically they shouldn’t be parasitic. She would have bet they were. It should have been more alarming. Especially when its friends joined the parade. One became…
As the Storm Breaks
Already surpassing the gray skies and trembling leaves outside; pain pulled back the skin between her eyes. Tension was settling in, taking second in command to rage; the two mixed like the rain and the wind. At some point the scales would tip, but for right now, the storm outside would have to catch up. …
Waves Crash Over Me
The tiredness pulled her body down like the battery of a cell phone whose owner was trying to shoot out one more post before it died. The nimble fingers of gravity tugged at her shoulders. The bones of her neck slid back, settling out of alignment void of their responsibility to hold her head up….
Long Story in a Short Time
Benjamin Brown Stone ran his hand up the back of his shaved head. Up and down, the sound of day old hair grating against his soft skin. It wasn’t natural for a man to have such soft skin, at least not according to the outdated beliefs of his outdated father. . . the same man…
Be Careful of the Words You Speak
The hiss of the cigarette filled the absence of her scream. Most people reacted when the tip of a cigarette grazed them, let alone when the glowing tip seared its way through top layer of skin. Petra hadn’t wanted to waste a cigarette. Nor did she want the pain to end quickly. Instead, she had…
Stay Afloat
No need for sadnessthe weight pulling you down is only temporary In the end there’s likeness, lightnesshope rising through the seas The d’s, f’s, b flatsand all the chords we play to sing ourselves to sleep The “Every Good Boy Does Fine” lies, we sing ourselves to sleep with In the end there’s no need…
Spring Blooms
The room smelled just like the Catholic school I grew up in. It was a smell impossible to lock down, one I never thought I would smell outside of Glen Ridge – yet here I was states away, and the smell of old fabrics, settled air, and dark histories invade my nostrils as the songs…