Just one more mission, they told me. Or I think that’s what I heard. The music of war had muffled my ears and it was getting harder to interpret. I had to look at mouths, eyes, facial muscles.

They sat me in the middle of a battlefield, the Martian landscape red with ancient ores and recent spilled blood. Earth commanders would be on one side, Mars on the other.

Once we were all the same. But ...

Construction paper schmeared with glue

A jar of glitter in a chubby hand

Teacher’s eyes averted

Jar spills its stars on the paper

An infinity of divinity

Teacher sighs

Tips the paper to release any unstuck stars

Falling stars rain into the trash...

“I have so much to tell you, darling!” Aunt Lucy purred as she poured the beverage and shoved some finger sandwiches my way.

“I can only stay a moment, Aunt Lucy,” I said.

“Oh fiddlesticks my dear! Always in such a rush. I need to chat with you as soon as I take my medication for this gout flare up —“

She showed me her swollen foot and began to talk; the rift opened, dragging me into it. I wo...

There was an old grump

Who was born a Trump.

He lived in New York

No one escaped his cruel fork

Then became Prez

Because a few sez

He’s the best

Paid them all off

But didn’t give a toss

Mocked our flag

Like it’s an old rag

We cannot wait

To impeach this trait(or)...

How funny is that,

The witnesses said - it looks like a

Mushroom blooming

From the desert arising!

The blast was so much

bigger than they expected.

Then the wind blew

Like the whisper from a god

Speaking of doom....

[Note: This story discusses slavery in the American South.]

Toby wondered what his name would have been if his mother had been allowed to name him. He often thought about this when they called him to do this, do that.

The fields were so hot and the days were so long.

For many years he had stooped over, picking cotton, harvesting tobacco, cutting grass for the Master’s lavish lawn parties.

H...

It had to be somewhere, he thought. He buried his hand deep within his cloak pocket. Set the items on the ground.

Rosary made from wood of the true Cross.

Six silver bullets.

Gun.

A bottle of holy water.

Salt packets.

A garlic clove.

Long stake.

Hammer.

Only one thing missing — where was the mirror?

Oh no. There it was. He cut his finger on the shards. Must have broken on the way.

He...

First there was nothing

And then a convergence

A spinning then explosion

Stars, planets, space dust, gasses

Going far and wide creating this—

Whatever it is.

Dust formed to planets

Planets either died or brought life.

The agony of this growth

If the Universe could feel it.

Now ever-expanding

Into the what, we don’t know.

But one day the expanding will stop.

And like a rubber band snap ...

A kind gesture

Sending us this huge bouquet

After grandma passed

We left them in the kitchen

For days, no will to move them

Blooms wilting

Petals drifting

One morning I walked by

Their reek of rot alerted me

I saw a movement

Looked within the sagging stems

A cockroach popped out

I felt my gorge rise

Grabbed a trash bag

Enveloped the mess in plastic

Threw it in the trash

And then cried...

“Well, young lady, are you ready for your test?” The handler said, for the fifth time that day.

“Yes sir,” Esmé said. “I’ve been practicing with a rental dragon all month.”

“Then let’s go,” he said.

As they took off, mom and dad waved nervously. The last four applicants hadn’t done so well.

The dragon looked like he’d been doing this a long time. His scales were pock marked from bumps and ...