thwack

thwack

SPONGE BATH by Tracy Rothschild Lynch

Tracy Rothschild LynchSPONGE BATH The no-nonsense, middle-aged Filipino nurse tells me, pushing up her smudged glasses, that I need to clean up a bit down there. She waves her tiny hands dramatically around her own groin area and then shuffles…

LAST GESTURE by James Miller

James MillerLAST GESTURE We eat on the porch when evening heat recedes. Lamps hang from the oak. The Conrad novel rests between us—eighty-nine pages left to speak aloud. As you reach out for a drink, we see a tiny frog,…

SAN ANDREAS HEAVEN by Nick Olson

Nick OlsonSAN ANDREAS HEAVEN I remember back in the day Nick used to try to get to Heaven. Heaven was a glitched-out place in San Andreas where nothing made sense or seemed quite real, and Nick would come home most…

AMMONITES by Ann de Forest

AMMONITES by Ann de Forest

Ann de ForestAMMONITES mountains once were ocean  evidence coils beneath our feet  prehistoric curlicues  not yet nautilus  not yet snail  not yet calcified turban washed up on the beach ………………………void of any tender ……………………………….creature barely old enough to remember  tasmanian…

I’M NOT SORRY by Ali Kojak

Ali KojakI’M NOT SORRY They say I should write you a letter. As a goodbye, they smile sadly, for closure. They say closure like it’s a literal thing I can touch, can put in my Amazon cart and click, it’s…

LEPIDOPTERA by Lorette C. Luzajic

butterfly

Lorette C. LuzajicLEPIDOPTERA Pheasant Falls, end of the line. There is only a diner and smoke shop at either end of a triplet of small houses. On the other side, city-potted geraniums and a path to the waterfalls. An arrow…

TRADE CRAFT by Jason Jobin

Jason JobinTRADE CRAFT On the walk home from the bakery, spelt loaf in hand, I look back—because this is the part of town where you look back—and see a guy. He’s late thirties, soft looking, salt and pepper hair, very…

LOOKING UP by Sarah Berger

Looking up

Sarah BergerLOOKING UP One thing I did when I was twenty was fall in love with a Roman Catholic boy and get all confused. I was a half-Jew-half-gentile quasi-Lutheran atheist, led as in a trance to the burly God of…

CHERRY BOMB by Todd Clay Stuart

Todd Clay StuartCHERRY BOMB The object of the game is to see how long we can hold a lit Cherry Bomb in our hand before tossing it away. Ray-Ray Campbell claims he’s champion of the fucking world. Took the title…

ADDING APPETIZERS by Claire Oleson

Claire OlesonADDING APPETIZERS She was sitting on a stool in the basement of the restaurant watching the octopus spin. It was on a cold/cold cycle in the washing machine. This was how they tenderized it, Ellis had told her, overjoyed…

THE LOBSTER by Gabby Capone

Pink Lobster

Gabby CaponeTHE LOBSTER It was winter, mid-December, much too cold to leave him there—the lobster, on my porch. I don’t know how he got there, whether he’d walked or hailed a cab. But it was snowing, and he looked so…

LA BALEINE by Claire Rudy Foster

Claire Foster Rudy headshot

Claire Rudy FosterLA BALEINE I did not know anything about whales until I became one. In the first trimester of my pregnancy, I transitioned, changing into a creature that was part meat and part ocean. My pregnant body was flush…

CATCHING AIR by Darlene Eliot

Darlene Eliot

Darlene EliotCATCHING AIR Kevin rolled his ankle on August 25th and never stopped talking about it. The steep hill, the bearings, the cross street of killer cars, the way he caught air before landing on the compost heap placed-there-by-God so…

SILENT KILLER by James Stewart III

James Stewart author headshot

James Stewart IIISILENT KILLER Nine months into the global pandemic that has taken more than 200,000 lives in the US, it was finally my turn to go to the doctor. However, despite the ever-present fear and paranoia that turns every…

I LIKE IT by Jinna Han

Jinna Han Headshot

Jinna HanI LIKE IT If there was a fly on the wall right now, my eyes would be following it. As there isn’t, I resign myself to banging my feet against the chair leg and watching my pencil roll across…

SUNRISE by Steve Gergley

Steve Gergley headshot

Steve GergleySUNRISE Manga Today I stole a violin and sold it for drugs. It belonged to a blond-haired kid no older than fifteen. I took it after he walked out of church and started masturbating to a manga in the…

House of Mirrors by Neal J. Suit

Neil J. Suit author photo

Neal J. SuitHouse of Mirrors The police cruiser appeared as the dusty orange of dusk settled. The car’s lights and sirens remained off because it wasn’t an emergency. Rumors swept across the town. Katie had run away. She was abducted.…

Join our other 6,257 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.