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Image generated with AI. “Did I miss a message?” She knew her son’s intentions, she just thought he knew better, she didn’t want to get into a sniping match, so she shut up. Some things were better left unsaid. Mama didn’t like it when her boy kept her car out all night without asking. “I
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Image generated with AI When I go outside, summer smells like rain and cut grass. If I sit on my rocking chair on the back porch, I smell the deep green dirt and dead leaves of forest earth supporting my flowers. The deadfall of the yard, dotted with bright pink begonias and orange, fuchsia, and
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Image generated with AI Alice Krudworthy gave up on lying a long time ago. She quit making up shit, but would often omit certain details to bend the thinking of whomever she was talking to. “What did you have for dinner?” Someone would ask innocuously. “Salad, with apples, chickpeas, avocados, tomatoes, and crab. I made
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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Someplace Warm
“I’ve packed all the snacks,” said Celia. “I forgot the wine,” said Doug, “Can we stop at Kroger?” “Is it even open yet? It’s 6:30 in the morning.” Janet was aggravated. “I knew somebody would forget something. I got really great charcuterie boards to go with the wine for tonight and tomorrow to go with Read more
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Escape
“Get out,” her brain screamed inside her head and her arms tingled, and her knees wobbled. She looked for the exit. The clock ticked. There were twenty five people between her and the door. Forty-five minutes between her and the end of the session. The room was silent save for the shuffle of the occasional Read more
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When the Ship Lifts
Artwork by Charles Jupiter Hamilton It took a long time to get here, to this place of the ordinary. What had to be figured out was what was commonplace. What could be tolerated, what she wanted to confront. She learned to pick the battles. Some fell away, some had to be fought. Some she lost, Read more
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Birds and Boxcutters
“I have no idea what you want me to do with all this stuff,” said Lisa. Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked around the four walls. She was knee deep in equipment, boxes, ragged furniture. Where should she begin? Her head itched and it felt like a thousand birds flew out of her Read more
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When Life Gets Weird
All women in their time play all the parts. When time’s struggle hacks away at the core of motherhood, she blooms Slices of her incognito souls fall around her. She’s protected her child with her promises Surefooted he stands on her love and covers his head, With the hat of awareness. The recognition that Her Read more
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Mona
Like most things, Mona ignored the timer, and kept reading her book. She was approaching the climax of a scene, she needed to see the outcome of the turning point, wanted to watch the table turn, she couldn’t put the pages down just yet. Nothing was on fire. She read on. Of course the protagonist Read more
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Image generated with AI. “Did I miss a message?” She knew her son’s intentions, she just thought he knew better, she didn’t want to get into a sniping match, so she shut up. Some things were better left unsaid. Mama didn’t like it when her boy kept her car out all night without asking. “I
-
Image generated with AI When I go outside, summer smells like rain and cut grass. If I sit on my rocking chair on the back porch, I smell the deep green dirt and dead leaves of forest earth supporting my flowers. The deadfall of the yard, dotted with bright pink begonias and orange, fuchsia, and
-
Image generated with AI Alice Krudworthy gave up on lying a long time ago. She quit making up shit, but would often omit certain details to bend the thinking of whomever she was talking to. “What did you have for dinner?” Someone would ask innocuously. “Salad, with apples, chickpeas, avocados, tomatoes, and crab. I made
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
“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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The A ha Moment
Imaged generated with AI “How many buffoons does it take to run a meeting?” thought Alice. She looked outside the window and watched the ocean leave tidepools on the shore and wanted to be there more than anywhere else in the world. She was so excited that the conference was to be held at Myrtle…
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The Bracelet
It was late when I left school. The open house had been another success story for the school. Parents and kids were satisfied. Teachers were exhausted from their extended day. Posters and tables were put away. Rooms were locked, and the intercom told us to go home. It sparkled like nothing in my jewelry box,…
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More Marshmallows
Image generated with AI. “Excalibur, I call upon thee,” wrote Sam in his journal. He put his pen down and scratched his butt. He’d been sitting for hours and writing for minutes. He was ankle deep in gore and guts in his story. When the muse bit him, she must’ve bit blood, because that’s all…
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Dinner and a Show
AJ tossed a scant handful of pellets into the koi pond and watched the fish skitter to the top of the water to devour them before they returned to their seeming cyclical peace. Lost in thought, he leaned over the rail and studied their movements. His eyes followed the path of the fish around the…
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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…
Devonne Brown 