Lightning flashes

From a thunder of paparazzi

Another scandal

Another arrest

Plunge from Tiger Beat

Onto the rehab rotisserie

Sink into late night monologues before

Disappearing from the news cycle

Bobbing up

to promote a new release

Or a series premiere

Or a Japanese cigarette commercial

Deep push in on the heartfelt apology

Pan out to a comeback cover

by the checkout counter...

“Witch hunt that’s what this is,” Mr. Robert’s said, trying to keep his voice calm. “We’ve already explained Bryce’s bruising.”

Lips trembling, Mrs. Robert’s twisted the hem of hey pencil skirt. Her husband patted her knee. Subtly she moved away to smooth the fabric. Mrs. Robert’s cleared her throat. The teacher still hadn’t made eye contact since the Roberts sat down for the parent teacher confe...

Gretchen was right, Basil was a blithering idiot who couldn’t see what was right in front of him. Ripping off another stretch of duct tape, he could recognize how right she’d been about everything. All the signs were there. Whilst binding a limp Rococo to the folding chair, Basil realized he’d made a terrible decision to let her leave.

Dad was army and a bit of a rolling stone. Dad picked up Mum,...

Eye of newt, check. Earth from a freshly buried grave, check. Dried man tooth, canned is better but that’s so dear since the tariffs. Elspeth checked and rechecked her grocery basket. All morning she’d felt off, like a loose thread in a tapestry. She was forgetting something important but what she had no idea. She paid Mr. Mephistopheles and tipped his raven for minding her broom.

Basket under h...

Break the blanket’s surface

Sink beneath the sheets

Every slight a barb

Chains of the things I wished I’d said but didn’t

Weigh me down

Flailing to wake up at peace in my skin

Instead of weak and

Growing weaker expectations measured

In pounds per square inch crushing

me down into the blue deep

A scream bubbles up to

Break the blanket’s surface...

Burnt toast and lousy coffee, a typical morning for Dr. Dimitri Sirin. Up at the ass crack of dawn, he had to open up the clinic since Dinah his vet tech called out. Again. For the hundredth time, he thought about selling his little country animal hospital practice and heading back to Portland. Walking to the clinic’s side entrance Dimitri was deep in dreams of neverending bookstores and civet cof...

You’re beautiful my dear

I’m sure you’ve been told

Excuse my intrusion

But I need a face to hold

my own visage

You see’s been stole

May I borrow yours

If I may be so bold?

Listen closely to my

Tragic story unfold

If your heart’s unmelted

I will not conjole

My father the king

Grew weak and old

My stepmother snatched

My crown of gold

By trading my face

With hers behold

Her careless stitches

A...

“Dad? What are you doing in Amsterdam?”

“Taking your advice, living before I’m dead.

Allen set down his massive backpack on the dingy hostel floor. He wrapped Tucker in a fragrant bear hug. Tucker’s mouth hung open. Allen tossed himself carelessly on the room’s bottom bunk, Tucker’s bed. He barely recognized his father beneath his shaggy hair and tie-dyed clothes. Three months ago, his dad was a...

I used to look for her

When the sun was shining

Whilst it rained

Peeking out between

A rock and a hard embrace

A tear-stained face in the clouds

I searched the bright sky

Heard the rumbling of thrown furniture

Recognized the bolts of blame

Flung to the ground

So she had to be up there

Trapped in the tension of the charged air

Hoping to be seen...

Wanted professional mourners. Flexible schedule. PTO. Signing bonus. Must have references.

While she was carefully folding the free paper to cover the hole in her sole, Riley first noticed the ad. She laughed and showed it to Vikram. Instead of laughing he got that pointless hopeful look.

In fumes, they had coasted off the grapevine with an overheated engine and $137 to their names. Vikram’s n...