thwack

thwack

BREAKFAST SOLILOQUY by William Erickson

William EricksonBREAKFAST SOLILOQUY After breakfast I discovered an accretion disk around the empty container of raspberries, an iridescent plate of ablated drupelets circling recyclable clamshell like discarded astral projects on the kitchen counter. God is summer fruits and moldy gauze.…

REGENERATION by Brenda Taulbee

REGENERATION by Brenda Taulbee

Brenda TaulbeeREGENERATION I want to put my head down …………………….and sleep like I used to know …………………….………..how to sleep. …………………….I want my brain to be less like a rained out game …………………….of hopscotch, the lines all running. I never want…

SHOW TUNES by Julie Benesh

Julie BeneshSHOW TUNES My ex- husband texting quotations, marked: “I know all about your standards…” Because July: ………….Music Man. last month was June’s ………….Carousel bustin’ out all over. (If I… ) Next month: ………….State Fair (Iowa, again, my home state).…

REFLECTIONS by Virginia Petrucci

Virginia PetrucciREFLECTIONS April 2012 I do one bump right before I pee and then another after I’ve washed my hands. I suck the lingering white crumbs off the tip of my apartment key like a rapacious baby. I was anticipating…

PUSHING AWAY THE SCUM by Benedicte Grima

PUSHING AWAY THE SCUM by Benedicte Grima

Benedicte GrimaPUSHING AWAY THE SCUM I have no recollection of being bathed before the age of five. Doubtless, long forgotten nannies took charge of that. But growing up in an old farmhouse with a French mother and an unreliable well…

THE UNDERSIDE by Eric Scot Tryon

THE UNDERSIDE by Eric Scot Tryon

Eric Scot TryonTHE UNDERSIDE It was an exceptionally hot Saturday in April when my sister and I zombied our way through the tedious chore of packing Mom’s house. A twisted, cruel part of the grieving process, but we refused to…

HOOPS by Maggie Hill

HOOPS by Maggie Hill

Maggie HillHOOPS We’re going to jail for Christmas. Sing Sing. Ossining, New York. My brother Bobby and I ride in the back seat, the both of us held captive by images of branch, stone, sky going in the other direction.…

A PLACE OF COMFORT by Eliot Li

Eliot LiA PLACE OF COMFORT Dustin, whose adolescent spine curved gently to the right. He hardly ever wore his corrective brace to school because it was so obvious under his polo shirt. Whose bedroom equaled comfort, Phoebe Cates on the…

ENOUGH by Margaret MacInnis

Margaret MacInnisENOUGH When my infant daughter turns her face from my nipple and stiffens in my arms, I panic, imagining my lungs filling with water. I’m drowning on my living room floor, where I sit topless, still in my pajama…

LITTLE FEET by Gabriella Souza

Gabriella SouzaLITTLE FEET Her mother used a foot mask. The package promised that in five days, the skin on her mother’s feet would molt, bubble white, and peel off in shreds, ziiiiiip. The daughter swore her mother’s eventual demise began…

TEENAGE ASTRONOMY by Karin Wraley Barbee

Karin Wraley BarbeeTEENAGE ASTRONOMY Men watch her from her ceiling, Cepheus and Hercules, pressed there by a girl on the top bunk. Their luminous hands connect the dots of her now teenage body. The screen glows like the Northern Lights…

PAS DE DEUX by Lori Sambol Brody

Lori Sambol BrodyPAS DE DEUX Alexander calls me to the front of the beginning pas de deux class to demonstrate positions. A tour de promenade: he coaches me to grip his hand and lift my leg in an arabesque, then…

BEND AND TOUCH THE GRASS by Peter Grandbois

BEND AND TOUCH THE GRASS by Peter Grandbois

Peter GrandboisBEND AND TOUCH THE GRASS Though the house is quiet another day nearly ………….snuffed out Shadows slipping through a bear’s skull, ………….half-buried Deer prints breaking the blossoming mud ………….at the water’s edge The cricket’s chirp limping through ………….the undecided…

MASQUERADE by Dhaea Kang

Dhaea KangMASQUERADE We’ve just arrived at prom and already I want to leave. Should we take a photo? Chris asks. I clock the long line, my classmates barely recognizable without their signature Hollister t-shirts and hoodies, skin-tight low rise jeans.…

CONCERNING RITA HAYWORTH by Kim Magowan

Kim MagowanCONCERNING RITA HAYWORTH “So what do you do?” George says, then winces. “Sorry! Reductive question.” “At least you waited until we each had a glass of wine.” Cora examines her hands, the body part she used to be most…

INHOSPITABLE by Virginia Eggerton

INHOSPITABLE by Virginia Eggerton
Capitalized "Scrabble" on second reference (themed Scrabble). There was an extra space between the July and August paragraphs, inconsistent with how other changes in date were treated, so I deleted the extra space.  

STINGRAY by John Cullen

STINGRAY by John Cullen

John CullenSTINGRAY My sister and I recall that old Stingray while we sit a vigil in the critical care unit. She melts into the vinyl cushions and I lean sideways, balanced like a circus acrobat one moment before falling. My…

OUR FATHERS by Sarah Freligh

OUR FATHERS by Sarah Freligh

Sarah FrelighOUR FATHERS Our fathers rise at five and whistle out the door carrying thermoses of black coffee and lunches our mothers have packed for them—bags of corn chips that fat up the blood and sandwiches made of meat and…

LEFTOVERS by Regan Puckett

LEFTOVERS by Regan Puckett

Regan PuckettLEFTOVERS I almost had a husband once, but we never made it to the wedding. Now, he’s someone else’s husband, with a baby announcement on Facebook and a house two towns over. Our last date, we went to an…

MONOCULAR by Tingyu Liu

MONOCULAR by Tingyu Liu

Tingyu LiuMONOCULAR Remembering, still: Sunday egg scrambles, green …………..peppers and sharp cheddar adorning …………..our fingers, coffee pot chuckling. Tilt and: our slip of a room …………..in Havana, stumbling on the party downstairs, sweet …………..cake kiss, warm cola in colored cups.…

SILVER FALLS by Melody Wilson

SILVER FALLS by Melody Wilson

Melody WilsonSILVER FALLS We have driven east this bright afternoon, the two of us, young parents on a break from entropy. I am drowning in something I can’t define and the day reels out like un-spliced frames of someone else’s…

Join our other 6,253 subscribers!

Use this form to receive a free subscription to our quarterly literary magazine. You'll also receive occasional newsletters with tips on writing and publishing and info about our seasonal writing workshops.