'... what the movie had really shown the man was the distance between what he thought he understood about the world and what he actually understood. There was a vast and yawning gulf, which the movie had exposed.'

Andrew Bertaina in Rejection Letters rejection-letters.com/2024/04/24/the…

'Separately, our parents went to Happy Hours after work with friends or they drank alone at home. We watched as they twirled key fobs on hopeful fingers before their dates.'

Patricia Q. Bidar in Revolution John revolutionjohnjournal.wordpress.com/2024/04/25/apr…

'I saw it at the grocery store, a new brand, she says, sitting back down on the wicker chair. And I thought of you.

You thought of me?'

Gelato by Richie in Fractured Lit fracturedlit.com/gelato/

'... Later, you
show up, the whole new country that you
are, and he has to learn your mysterious
language, learn the exact line where you
both divide. ...'

Father + 1 by francinewitte in Roanoke Review roanokereview.org/poetry2023/fra…

'You are always here, moving, sloshing, but arriving nowhere. And though you can’t really see, the sky is shaping the storm. You know it. It’s coming.'

Sam Rasnake in Moist Poetry Journal is on Bluesky 🏳️‍⚧️ moistpoetryjournal.com/2024/04/26/ine…

'You spoke to me with tenderness as you removed his large K-Mart sunglasses, only to reveal another pair of sunglasses beneath those as you whispered, 'I know what makes you feel.'”

Chrissy Stegman in Inkfishmagazine inkfishmag.com/gift-horse/

I'm excited to be reading this Sunday morning with some other fantastic Best Small Fictions authors (Fiona J Mackintosh, Malvika Jolly, Lee Matthew Goldberg, Pat Foran, and others). Register here to join us on Zoom, Sunday at 10:00AM ET: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regist…

'Posters of *Have you seen me?* under my face, pinned to bulletin boards, taped to streetlights. No one double taking as I tear them down ...'

Melissa Llanes Brownlee in Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine gooseberry-pie.com/desperately-se…

“'It’s like they know I use their product every day for baking and want to look pretty,' she said.'

Amy Barnes in Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine gooseberry-pie.com/the-new-look/

'Ten minutes into the film, Raj’s hand snakes around my back, nails scratchy-rough, plays with the throat-strap of my top and next thing I know ...'

Sudha Balagopal in Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine gooseberry-pie.com/all-jade-and-p…

'My mother-in-law gives me a look of approval and says, 'My son likes them all sweet and tender.'

I cringe, dig my nails into my wrist, then ...'

SaraS in Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine gooseberry-pie.com/i-like-them-ta…

'... and saw this house, white marble with a statue of Jesus by the door, Jesus with his hands around two kids, not quite a hug, more grabbing them by the back of the neck like He Meant Business.'

K is for KATE Who Was Struck with an Axe in Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine gooseberry-pie.com/gooseberries/

'*I know you are taking a chance with me*, I managed to say, *I am as broken as this house*, and you started singing that song the lyrics of which you claimed you could never remember but they came out perfectly and ...'

Tara Isabel Zambrano in Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine gooseberry-pie.com/raining-rocks-…

'You reprimand yourself, *you really need to be more careful*, because last time it took years to get your happiness back, and it only gets harder with age, but ...'

Jessica Klimesh in Gooseberry Pie Literary Magazine gooseberry-pie.com/too-good-to-be…

'I follow every note, every word spoken.
The earth and sky respond as if in a song.'

Two by Sam Rasnake in All Existing Literary Magazine allexistinglitmag.wixsite.com/allexisting/is…

'The rat I had feared but not seen (for two years) decided to make me dinner.'

The Soup (and more) by Koss (Insta: @koss_singular) in Mythic Picnic twitter.com/MythicPicnic/s…

'The air stilled, or perhaps it was her breath. A moment or two or ten passed. And she started to feel it.

A soft buzzing sensation, the tiniest bird humming in her depths, a trilling that traveled gently ... '

Lu Han in The Adroit Journal theadroitjournal.org/issue-forty-ni…

Friends, this year I am raising funds for Suicide Awareness & prevention in memory of my brother Peter and on behalf of myself. You can read some of our story in the description. Any amount is appreciated. With Love, g 💜🌿🙏sharingkindness.charityproud.org/Fundraising/P2…

“The gun/the molestation/the driving her to the outskirts of town/her memorizing every landmark she passes/her memorizing the car’s make/model/condition/…”

“*I’ve never forgotten you. How could I? I’m the one who...*”

Constance Malloy's The Burning Hearth in ELJ Editions emergeliteraryjournal.com/fourth-and-ash/

“Trevor smokes. Sometimes he stubs out his cigarettes on the alveoli inside my lungs. About three months after he started squatting, he set up a micro-brewery in my gut …”

Matt Kendrick in ELJ Editions emergeliteraryjournal.com/trevor/