MAGPIES PERCH ON the branch of a golden Linden. I sit at the edge of my bed and watch the magpies dive and soar. I stay in this space of autumnal beauty. I slide across to the window. Tree roots bulge out of concrete like varicose veins. It is the end of the world. I … Continue reading Neurotransmit
Memories flicker like lights on a switchboard. No context, just images. A woman with soft hands. We’re on a roof top...
ON PEARLIZED INVITATIONS, the words, “newborn babies required,” swirl above debossed emblems of storks. If potential guests are paying attention, they’ll see droplets falling from the satchel the stork is carrying, and they’ll probably think it has something to do with freshness and new life — and maybe it does. Mom insists on these hand-crafted … Continue reading The Pleasure of Your Company, and Babies, Requested for a Celebration of the Union of our Marriage
SAM WASN'T UNHAPPY to be called back to work so soon after little Gracie’s funeral. For the past two weeks since he’d challenged the psychic that Maura brought into their house she hardly answered him when he spoke to her, hardly looked at him. His home was a lonely place and despite himself he was … Continue reading The Oracle
IF HE POSITIONS his head perfectly, it’ll align with the drops of water streaming down his head and ears so he can’t hear. He becomes born again, without hearing. Instead: vibrations that soothe and shut things out. Long showers have always been his “thing.” Letting them whisk him away. Fleeing stupidity-riddled reality tidbits that munch … Continue reading Painkillers
THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION raged. Alejandro fled to Texas. He drank tequila. He bemoaned the fact that tequila, once cheap, now cost dearly. He became a citizen in a land in which he was a stranger, but what else can a stranger do?
I DIDN'T REPLY to Jacob’s last text message to me, but I did show up to his funeral. I’d spent the entire morning deciding what to wear. A lot of the clothes that I once wore don’t quite fit me the way they used to in high school. Is wearing black to a funeral mandatory? … Continue reading What Do I Wear to My Friend’s Funeral?
Cryonics n. the process of freezing a body at the moment of its death with the hope that it will be brought to life at some future time. ~ The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary This definition was like a sick amen burned into Reggie’s synapses. It was a prayer already dead and robbed of spirit before … Continue reading The Glass Slumber
Here are Hidden Peak Press' 2022 Pushcart Prize nominees. Listen, I Need to Tell You Something by Andrea Lawler A Dead Thing by Adam Greenfield A Study of Skeletons / A Cherry Tree Picked Clean by McCaela Prentice The Clearing by Mathieu Cailler Metaphysical Twitch by Margaret Saigh Friend of Pig by Peter Alterman The … Continue reading 2022 Pushcart Prize Nominees
IT IS A HUMID NIGHT in D.C. and the air feels clotted and dense, like it’s on the verge of hemorrhaging outside instead of raining. It’s sick air, damp and shameless; the perfect conditions for reminiscing. I slow my pace back to my hotel where Frannie is already waiting for me in the lobby bar … Continue reading A Dead Thing