When I had first met Sam we were in high school. He was the first to start smoking cigarettes in our grade–that I knew of. They were Camels, and I liked the smell of them even though it earned him a reputation. “Why do you smoke them,” I asked one day, I had always been …
Category Archive: Flash
Oct 15
Saturday Night Dance
by Wanda Morrow Clevenger Getting wasted wasn’t the primary goal. Neither was dancing. Both backdrop, secondary bit-players in the small-town extravaganza. Our Town for the ’70s. Leaving with a guy, being seen leaving with him, the band’s muffled last hoorah cut off as the car door thuds shut, warm vinyl against bare ass was the …
Oct 15
Meth Pipe
by Josh Olsen While walking my dog, Kelso – a merle, Australian Shepherd/Collie mix – I came upon what I believed to be a meth pipe. It was left in plain view, on the sidewalk, in front of one of the many foreclosures in our neighborhood, and when I breathlessly relayed this information to KT, …
Oct 15
Phantoms
by Rob Pierce I knew her before the scars. I still see her unscarred, although I see her scarred as well. I see a montage of her faces past and present. She aches where limbs were severed, and I feel arms that no longer exist wrapped around me tight. She cannot let go of me …
Oct 15
Red October
by Brian Fugett I was well into my third beer when I noticed her giving me the proverbial ‘once-over’ at the Halloween party. She was a 5’ 3” brunette dressed as Frank Miller’s version of Robin the Boy Wonder and was endowed with an immaculate pair of 36 Cs that pressed out the little “R” …
Oct 15
Whiskey
Selection from Hard Times Galore by Patrick Vincent Welsh Blaine’s car died in a blizzard in Wyoming. He was traveling from Pittsburgh to Nevada where his uncle promised him work in his motorcycle shop as long as Blaine promised to stay sober, which he agreed upon without argument because he didn’t drink anyhow. His uncle …
Sep 15
Unshaved
by Josh Olsen The hangover was almost more than I could stand. I hadn’t vomited yet, but my body was wrenched with pain and I constantly felt like I was on the brink of shitting in my pants and, to top it all off, a woman was standing less than ten feet in front of …
Aug 15
Make it Feel True
by Misti Rainwater-Lites Write me and tell me I am fierce with reality I am star strong and night deep and I don’t have to keep all these books and lipsticks and ironic t-shirts to be interesting. Write me and tell me I am so pretty in the eye so sweet in the song you …
Aug 15
Daily Bread
by Misti Rainwater-Lites I’m fat in my purple shower cap and leopard print gown drinking hot coffee from a California mug. I’m such a cliche, a middle-aged woman who gave too much to love and sits on her ass staring forty in the face, wretched with self-loathing and regret. I should not have flashed those …
Aug 15
Two sides
by Josh Olsen “Sometimes,” my grandfather hesitantly confessed from his bed, “I wonder if we made the right choice keeping you away from your father.” But my grandmother quickly interjected, “Of course we made the right choice!” and that was the end of the conversation. I wasn’t exactly shocked by what my grandfather had stated. …