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“No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen,” said Alan Watts from the podium, his closing remarks. He got a standing ovation. I was pissed. I didn’t disagree with him, but I was pissed. I hate having reality thrown up in my face. My anxiety is often debilitating. That’s…
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“Girl, shit happens. You can’t tell me it doesn’t. Sometimes our choices are part of the grand scheme of the universe. A tale told by someone else. But you’re not the bad guy of the story, you’re free now,” said Mary. Eve sobbed with guilt and grief. The snake around her ankle climbed higher up…
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“I absolutely know what you want me to say,” said Thomas. He’d been with Celia all day and all evening. They’d worked all day together, been to the bar after work to celebrate with the public communications team, and now they were headed home. They were at the crossroads. “I can go right and head…
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“Hugh Henry you have the ability to choke the living shit out of every situation like an intergalactic missile,” His mother told him straight up. She was tired of listening to his tirade about why the symphony shouldn’t play next Sunday. He thought it was too frivolous, way too frivolous, to assemble the whole orchestra…
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“Everlastingly,” Janet hissed the word out as long as she could to give it the onomatopoeia sound of the crashing waves she needed to hear. “Listen! The mighty being is awake and doth with his eternal motion make a sound like thunder, everlastingly.” Janet quoted Wordsworth when she crossed the bridge to Emerald Isle. It…
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So they threw them together into the stream and the two splashes they made were as one. They tossed the rings into the maelstrom of the churning rapidsTheir perfect union ended as it had begun, blessed and honored.Washed downstream in holy water,Their wedding rings lost in the turbulence on the river rocks beneath the white…
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I hate to say it, but our family vacations with Dad were bad. He was the stick in the mud, the wet blanket, the damper of all flames, the downer. He provided all the eggshells on which we all had to walk. Our Myrtle Beach vacation, the first time any of us saw the sea…
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What? What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you hear me ask you first? What difference does that make? Are you going to answer me? Why wouldn’t I? What are you hiding? I’m not hiding anything? Aren’t you? How would you know? Why wouldn’t I know? Do you ever pay attention to me?…
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What do I know that’s true? I know that my family and money are important whether I like it or not. Even my sister and my brother, whom I rant and rave and write about all the time, even when I don’t like them, are all important to me. No one knows us like our…
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I got out the onions, cabbage, and Worcestershire sauce. I meant business. My day sucked and my socks were still wet. I’d made the decision in the car while the windshield wipers kept time to “I’ll Fly Away,” sung by Kanye West. The rapping, singing nut job of the music industry I loved to hate.…
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Fall, Flail, or Fly?
Photo by Tasha Marie To be or not to be. fall, flail, or fly? Ribs tight and hard, stomach in knots. I don’t even see the setting sun, there are no colors left in the grey of dusk. The ocean laps and pounds the jutting rock on which I stand. I pull my hair to… Read more
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Wet Produce
Image generated with AI. Grocery shopping is a necessary evil. I don’t like shopping in the first place, and spending an exorbitant amount of money on sustenance seems like a sin. Life is so expensive, it doesn’t need to be so annoying to get the things I need and want. Ordering groceries online for pickup… Read more
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Word Wednesday: Whalesong from “chord, note, Baltic, crowd, bronze, odor”
AI generated image. “I never thought I’d be standing on the deck of a cruise ship in the middle of the Baltic sea listening to whale songs, The notes and chords from their throats are stuff I only dreamed about,” Madeline watched the fog move over the waves. The famous clicks and moans of the… Read more
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Hateful Liberation
Mom and Dad were the loves of each other’s lives. They found each other during summers when Mom went to Clay county to visit her grandparents. Their love for each other never changed. Even after they divorced thirty-two years later after dad met and had an affair with CH, the most despicable woman I’d ever… Read more
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Tincher’s Store
AI generated image. Tincher’s Store and Post Office was the train station once. It stood not a hundred feet from the railroad tracks, and its wide wooden porch doubled as a bus stop in the pouring rain. We had no idea how long ago it stopped being a train station, it was half a mile… Read more
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“No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen,” said Alan Watts from the podium, his closing remarks. He got a standing ovation. I was pissed. I didn’t disagree with him, but I was pissed. I hate having reality thrown up in my face. My anxiety is often debilitating. That’s…
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“Girl, shit happens. You can’t tell me it doesn’t. Sometimes our choices are part of the grand scheme of the universe. A tale told by someone else. But you’re not the bad guy of the story, you’re free now,” said Mary. Eve sobbed with guilt and grief. The snake around her ankle climbed higher up…
-
“I absolutely know what you want me to say,” said Thomas. He’d been with Celia all day and all evening. They’d worked all day together, been to the bar after work to celebrate with the public communications team, and now they were headed home. They were at the crossroads. “I can go right and head…
-
“Hugh Henry you have the ability to choke the living shit out of every situation like an intergalactic missile,” His mother told him straight up. She was tired of listening to his tirade about why the symphony shouldn’t play next Sunday. He thought it was too frivolous, way too frivolous, to assemble the whole orchestra…
-
“Everlastingly,” Janet hissed the word out as long as she could to give it the onomatopoeia sound of the crashing waves she needed to hear. “Listen! The mighty being is awake and doth with his eternal motion make a sound like thunder, everlastingly.” Janet quoted Wordsworth when she crossed the bridge to Emerald Isle. It…
-
So they threw them together into the stream and the two splashes they made were as one. They tossed the rings into the maelstrom of the churning rapidsTheir perfect union ended as it had begun, blessed and honored.Washed downstream in holy water,Their wedding rings lost in the turbulence on the river rocks beneath the white…
-
I hate to say it, but our family vacations with Dad were bad. He was the stick in the mud, the wet blanket, the damper of all flames, the downer. He provided all the eggshells on which we all had to walk. Our Myrtle Beach vacation, the first time any of us saw the sea…
-
What? What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you hear me ask you first? What difference does that make? Are you going to answer me? Why wouldn’t I? What are you hiding? I’m not hiding anything? Aren’t you? How would you know? Why wouldn’t I know? Do you ever pay attention to me?…
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What do I know that’s true? I know that my family and money are important whether I like it or not. Even my sister and my brother, whom I rant and rave and write about all the time, even when I don’t like them, are all important to me. No one knows us like our…
-
I got out the onions, cabbage, and Worcestershire sauce. I meant business. My day sucked and my socks were still wet. I’d made the decision in the car while the windshield wipers kept time to “I’ll Fly Away,” sung by Kanye West. The rapping, singing nut job of the music industry I loved to hate.…
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Wilting
“You might be able to keep a secret but these flowers can’t,” Imogene told the housekeeper. I need this place spotless before my company comes tomorrow. Imogene watered her flowers hoping they’d come back to life. They’d wilted flat, collapsed, maybe to the point that they wouldn’t come back. She had guests coming over and…
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The Hot Air Balloon
Image generated with AI. Martin’s mouth hung open as the hot air balloon rose over the trees. He heard the hot air being released under the bulbous fabric as it climbed towards the daylight half moon that hung suspended almost secretly against the blue of the sky. The silky fabric wiggled against the azure expanse…
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Bennie and Mavis
Image generated with AI. Mavis eyed the red dress in her closet. The flowing skirt, bell sleeves, and boat neck made it modest enough to wear anywhere with a touch of mystery and sophistication. The problem was the red, proper etiquette dictated red shouldn’t be worn to a funeral. Bennie would have loved the dress…
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Scammers Beware
Illustration generated with AI. The Albacore sat high above the traffic. “Fuck with me will ya?” he said to himself. Smug in the knowledge that he’d not only thwarted a sixty thousand dollar heist, he was just shy of catching the idiots who decided to scam the wrong dude. He watched them drive their electric…
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Second Chance
“Maggie, we’re letting you go.” That’s all she heard. She remembered being escorted out of the office, and then to her car. Craig, her boss, was matter of fact about it, and acted nice, but professional, when he walked her out. He tried making small talk. “You’re smart, have a great skill set, and your…
Devonne Brown 