Today’s drawing prompt was “murky,”

So, of course, I drew my heart.

Not a symmetrical cutout trimmed in lace, no

I sketched in black ink

Anatomically accurate

muscle and arteries and veins.

A mostly healthy organ

Reliable but compromised

Tainted with treacle grief

But still beating...

“Nothing here is sacred, safe, or sane,” Primrose said solemnly as the spire’s shadow split her grim vestige.

“Jesus, Rosie will you just lift your damn end up. The bake sale is in two hours,” Poppy said.

Exhaling a cloud, Primrose pocketed her vape and hoisted the conference table. There were 37 reasons she despised being a preacher’s kid. Number 18 was being expected to be unpaid labor for ev...

The day I sprouted, all of remember is being thirsty. Breaking shell is hard way, I tell you. I was one of only three out of sizable stupid squirrel hoard to sprout at all. Next day, a rabbit ate Sister. Other Sister just withered away. My roots ached in the dry ground.

While I hoped for rain, Old Pine knattered on about communication overload and how the people were obsessed with newspapers. Sh...

“Dory, remember what we agreed to about your leaving the facility,” the voice in the sky said.

Pouting, Dory looked up at the drone. She could just picture old Dr. Epimetheus, twisted and half-blind. His voice was an unctuous clinging to her thoughts like wax. Dory stamped her bare feet.

“I just wanted to go on a normal walk. You never let me do anything,” Dory wailed.

“Nurse Frankel fell into...

A pair of monstera deliciosa

And a shrewdness of overgrown philos

Mistletoe cactus with long string stems

Hoyas, snakes, bedraggled begonias, and

Wine barrels of yellow green coral bells elbowing a velvet violet tradescentia for the last rays of late summer

Beneath my willow you’ll find this and more emptied pots filled with hours

Dirt under my fingernails

Searching for spider mites, root rot,...

I should know if the child is evil: she is my own. We named our youngest Mary Ann in honor of my dear mother who passed, but as soon as she could speak she insisted upon be called Annabelle. Martha pretended it was a babyish fancy. I knew otherwise.

It started with Mary Ann’s colic. Night and day, the babe cried. It was as if she craved unending devotion. No nursemaid could soothe her. Mary Ann ...

Veloriel was flying but not in a good way. Being a guardian angel was lovely, but it had always wanted to be an avenging angel. Often Veloriel had daydreamed of leading a righteous battalion thwarting evil forces. Today it was careening through an abandoned amusement park in a flashing dodge-em car driven by a psychopathic patchwork toy. Groaning, Veloriel gripped its queasy stomach.

“You okay w...

Something was missing, Skitterlump thought as he sipped his lurkel stew. Shrugging he pushed the crock from the hearth. Suddenly his hovel door slammed open. Without turning Skitterlump sprinkled a little ground peppercorn over the bubbling concoction.

“KittyKisses, I said knock,” Veloriel said frantically fluttering its massive Snow White wings. “Begging a thousand pardons, Master Skitterlump, w...

Where there is light, there is always a shadow

So say all those how to YouTube vids

But the lovely ache of

red violet in a thin muted puddle

caressing languid strokes of hansa yellow

Can only be learned

Layer upon layer

Hour after hour

By Smooth creamy pencil

longing for toothy paper...

Stiff from the cold, Lachlan fanned his fingers. The rolling motion reminded Lachlan of a fishtail and his dad’s teachings. Dad taught him everything he knew about fishing. After Mom left, the two of them spent hours on Fenner Lake. Those were his happiest memories. Until London.

He’d met London at Stewie’s Grille. She was a trainee waitress and god awful. London was a knockout, so she made out ...