Tomorrow will be better he said

As he gripped his silvery cane

He kept his walking stick close at hand

Though his knee no longer complained

Tomorrow will be better he said

Looking out across the street he knew

The friends he’d known now long since dead

Their lives remembered by few

Tomorrow will be better he said

When his wife comes finally home

Each winter stretched long the shadows

That re...

We had not seen each other for years, but she had not changed. Maybe aged a year or two. Her stare engulfed me much like the wild roses that surrounded her bed. Her inhuman roar deafened my ears and drove me to my knees. I dropped my shovel and fell into her deathless embrace. She tasted like finality....

Deep within the city's concrete swells,

Amid the husks, loneliness dwells,

The sewer tide rolls foul in the swollen dark,

You find me beneath the ebb, atrophy's special mark,

Rot's song bloats the body then time's teeth wither them down,

My special children are a trophy of murder, or here to join the drowned,

I pluck each special for they are my fruit,

They decay much sweeter, all beneath th...

Scanning through the words on page,

They form ideas not of this age,

Of smoke and fire and thunderous spells,

Divined from beasts of all nine hells,

The words are of a tongue from long ago,

That tell a tale I should not know,

Of sweeping plains under blackest moon,

Overlooking demons on bone white dunes,

My eyes fill with sights that are not mine,

The table in the library has become a shrine, ...

Run so fast through forest dark,

Eyes hunt well, my form set stark,

Bounding past the creeping reeds,

Hands grasp blades, my wounds they bleed,

Racing to that black inn room,

Hounds of hell, they’ll find me soon,

Glancing up at bright moon of night,

Feet bound rail, sanctuary in sight,

Opening portal to front room,

Quiet as mouse, lest I’ve sealed my doom,

Shutting door to brace for death,

J...

Jared glanced down at the flyer he clutched in his hands. Bright, professional letters read: ‘Make close friends now! Ask me how!’ It was an obvious scam, and he knew that, but that didn’t prevent him from paying the ridiculous price for the course. His tax return felt better spent on booze. At least booze wasn’t mean, it just made you mean.

The woman who sold the course went by the handle Marga...

Dust drifted about the small room in a parody of ballroom dancing, each mote gliding through the light of the single aperture above the bed. She stretched and sat up, her body ached from motionless daylight hours on her small, bare mattress. During the night she could scavenge outside amongst the bones of a lost civilization, a silent mouse amid the pantries of greater beings. When the moon was ou...

Bulbs burn overhead like judgmental suns as I stand onstage wedged between opportunity and failure. My heart is a horse with two bad legs that has to run anyway. Anxiety is the captain of my ship as I stand there plumb-legged before an unsympathetic mob of casting crew and one nasty, bored director.

“Well, we’re waiting.” He stares at me, arms crossed as if expecting me to perform a trick. I sta...

It’s my special day today, one that has me on pins and needles. Today is the day where everyone must wear their best finery, and the China that is least chipped set out for tea and desserts. Balloons of every color will be in attendance, a floating, rainbow feast for the eyes. Today is my special day, you see, and it must be just so.

Flashy pinwheels and cakes, ice cream floats, and games like C...