We all remember the dodo

The quagga, the pigeon passenger

These extinct beasts held more mojo

Than your weird pouch could bear

Not a wolf or tiger, not a dog or cat

Just an amorphous marsupial

Your stripes were nothing to sniff at

Just not quite cool enough

Adding down-under injury to insult

Labeled a dreaded henhouse killer

Decimated by farmers as a result

You were falsely accused

Scientis...

Never liked birds much

Never saw the charm in their too early morning songs

Never admired their flappity antics at bird feeders

But I feed Crow each morning

Each morning Crow screams at me

from his high branch perch

On my days off Crow screams at my coffee on the patio

When I’m late for work Crow screams at my mad rush to my car

I don’t know why I keep feeding Crow

Maybe if was the imperious...

“I’ve been just exhausted lately. No matter how much sleep I get. I am just beat,” Periwinkle said.

“Beyond the fatigue, do you have any other symptoms?” Dr. Acorn said.

Stifling a yawn, Periwinkle reflected on the last few weeks. Her doctor’s office hadn’t changed since childhood. Hand-drawn pictures and family photos were tacked to every wall of the hobbit’s medical office.

“No I feel fine...

Crissakes, all that girl can do is cry. Give my best to crybaby.

That’s how it started. Sweatpants and athletic socks, I was emptying Tank’s gym bag. He’d forgotten it in my trunk. His phone clunked against the basement laundry floor. I punched in his code to make sure the screen was okay. That’s when I saw their NSFW text chain.

Jessica was Tank’s ex. They were college sweethearts and he’d wa...

Golden covers

Discarded in brown paper shopping bags

Plucky girl detective

Left by the little free library

old clocks and hidden staircases on

Dog-eared and foxed pages

Armfuls of treasures

Carried home...

“Oh Ms. Quillian your package arrived,” Susan said from reception.

“Thank you,” Iris said, juggling her flat white grande and flat bread panini.

On the elevator ride back up to her office Iris examined the FedEx box. It was John’s handwriting. She shook the box. One of the accountants on the elevator looked amused.

“I think my fiancé sent me a surprise,” Iris explained.

With a bone folder,...

It rained today. I awoke to putter patter of raindrops on the caravan’s roof. My first thought was Cy’s concert would be canceled. I shook him wondered already thinking of a water mage I knew who owned me a favor. Opening one groggy green eye, Cy read my face.

“Stop ruffling your feathers birdbrain. Even a tempest wouldn’t stop this performance,” Cyan said.

Playfully I whacked his eager hands ...

With her tee shirt glued to her back with sweat, Julianne carted the last milk crate from her Honda Fit. Summer had been just a long spring with days of gray skies and rain. It had been damp cold until today. Today was a scorcher. Just my luck, she thought looping her mega purse around her neck.

Her right hip ached. Julianne shifted the pack on her back and headed for the staircase. She looked ...

Making friends is easy. I don’t know why I was so nervous. I mean I’m used to hunting people, other serial killers. I’m good at it but it doesn’t really hone one’s people skills. Dr. Peters recommended I get out and mingle. Oh we hit a speed bump I think.

I wish this trunk had an emergency light. No worries, just gotta get my phone. Mingling was harder than I thought. I guess most people make fr...

Packing Tetris,

sliding stack of drawing pads

bags of cools and warms

rolling pencils

I’m running away from

home, not really mine anymore

overstuffed with slammed doors

shelves of angry silences

endless arguments spilling out

crowding me out

sitting on my chest

i can’t breathe

I packed myself up in a few boxes

took on a new lease

growing lighter with each step

I’m running away to home...