May

Mysore Passion by Rebecca Gaffron

She came for the experience; and rippled European yoga men aroused by her strong asanas. But she always carried hand-sanitizer. The locals might be contagious.

Rebecca is a sometimes writer, sometimes procrastinator and hopes she will be forgiven for both.  She can be found at: www.rebeccawriting.wordpress.com

 

Midnight Blue by Christina Murphy

Knowing how to behave gets you a yacht, the Cinderella, floating in the bay at midnight as you await the woman you plan to seduce. 

Christina Murphy lives and writes along the Ohio River. There is much about a major river to suggest words, currents, and images–many of which, in some form or other, find their way into her poetry.

Three pieces by Carly Berg

Turquoise and Caicos

A winter Minnesota tract house. Muumuus and bangles, mango walls, big plants. Jambalaya, no clock. Barefoot blues by the fireplace. Her husband was a macaw.

Swept Off My Feet

The Prince tried the slipper on all the women’s feet. He wouldn’t stop. Cinderella cried. Disney Security intervened. The guard said they’re all like that.

Pink-a-Boo

A cupcake lady, ruffles and ribbons. Hanging out the wash on a crisp April morning. When she bends, the neighbor man sees sweet blush cheeks.

Carly Berg is an editor, writer, and flop-about. Her work has appeared in Pank Magazine, Dog plot, Front Porch Review, and others. Nail polish makes her happy.

 

Riding Hood Red by Karen Walsh

What big eyes! Pale and cold, like blue ice. He paws my cape, nails sharp as thorns. I should flee, but I don’t. I surrender.

Karen Walsh is a psychologist and university instructor in St. Louis, Missouri. She has been writing fiction for fun but no profit for many, many years.

 

Hackney Spackle by Lisa Nielsen

he has my penchant for sarcasm

splaying it out before you like an enchanted gift

but a pantomime of devotion is all he’s actually offering

Lisa Nielsen is a single mother trying to balance the mundane with the groovy.

 

Atomic Orange by Katherine Lopez

The sky splashes bright orange over the sea. You wish it were cold, a smoothie. Instead it’s hot as the air, tainting fish, ships, beach.

Katherine Lopez writes stories, poems, essays, articles, blog entries, letters, notes, and doodles. Some of which are published.

 

Limited Addiction by Edie Montgomery

The nightmares of her past haunted her, even in daylight. Made her crave the poison. Each day it saved her. Each day it killed her.

Edie Montgomery has bungee jumped in Australia, swam with a shark in Tahiti, and slept in a haunted castle in Scotland.  Now she just likes to stay home and write little stories.  You can find her on twitter at @MeWriteWords.

 

Two pieces by Nicole Monaghan

Stiletto

He thought it was an Italian dessert, and I said no, it’s how I reach your lips.  We kissed again.  He said short was cute.

Taffy Town

He said everything was sticky here. The diners, the dance clubs, the situations. He wiped his hands on his jeans, said get used to it.

Nicole Monaghan founded and edits Nailpolish Stories.  Every once in a while, she publishes her own stuff here.  Because she loves to write.  And loves NS.

April

Photograph by Nicole Monaghan

 

In My Back Pocket by Hannah Karena Jones

I keep paperclips and ticket stubs and Post-Its folded four times over and abandoned shells that don’t whisper ocean sounds in my ear and you.

 

Hannah Karena Jones is an Assistant Editor by day and a YA, fiction, historical, and memoir writer by night. Her work has appeared in Weave magazine and The Susquehanna Review, among others, and her book, Byberry State Hospital, is forthcoming from Arcadia Publishing. She maintains a blog at http://thewwaitingroom.wordpress.com/. 

 

 

Flurry Up by Dan Sicoli

All she could remember was how fast

they rode through the snow and how the

Camero’s window stuck open. The weather

floated down like ash.

 

Dan Sicoli is the author of two chapbooks from Pudding House Press–Pagan Supper and the allegories. Odd weekends he bangs out chords on an old Gibson.

 

Infatuation by Esther Thurman

 

Piles of letters. One began, You don’t know me. I love you. He tossed the page, kept her photograph. Death Row was such a drag.

Esther Thurman spends most days alone with urges to sublimate certain emotions–at times, in good order; at times, in pandemonium–by writing, drawing, and making photos. Other humans interest Esther immensely, especially those in need, lost, or troubled. After her death, her remains will be transported to and studied at Knoxville, Tennessee’s “Body Farm” (University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Center).

 

Big Apple Red  by Bruce Harris

They met for the first time after countless online exchanges.

“You’re Big Apple Red?”

She hesitated, said nothing.

“You’re not from the city, are you?”

Bruce Harris enjoys relaxing with a Marxman.

 

 

Caught Red-handed by Sue Ann Connaughton

He assumed she’d pine for him after he left in the morning, until he found her fluffing away traces of his head-shape from the pillow.

Sue Ann Connaughton writes compact pieces from a drafty old house in Massachusetts. Her most recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Barnwood Poetry Magazine; The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts; The Linnet’s Wings; The Citron Review; The Meadowland Review; Boston Literary Magazine; On the Premises; Twenty20 Journal, Nasty Snips, and The Binnacle Eighth International Ultra-Short Competition anthology.

 

 

Two pieces by Rachel Wolford

Now You Sea Me

In the cove, we dally as the tide rises. With a flip of my tail, I plunge with you into the depths. Even lovers drown.

Jezebel

Flea-ridden and scratching, I wandered to my favorite shade. I had begged no breakfast in the market. Blood on the pavement made an adequate lunch.

Rachel Wolford enjoys the challenge of tiny stories.

 

 

Charmed by Sabrina Bullock

Sweet and sassy like the tea in the south.  Yet only gentle curses come out of her mouth.  “Bless your heart,” she says real smart.

Sabrina Bullock is a writer living in Kittrell, North Carolina.  She enjoys cooking, gardening, crocheting, sewing, and especially writing poetry. 

 

 

Two Pieces by Sandra Wilson

Scarlet

Time for face paint, heels to walk to war.  Attack the town and hit the disco. No ammo, just drink to mollify your enemy. Partner.

Wellington Square

Do not fear the rain that births the green beneath our feet.  Lightning burns away the dark. Thunder restarts your heart.  Walk bravely into the storm.

Sandra Wilson, 29, is a UK resident who has been writing since she was very small. Recently these stories have escaped into literary lunes and static movement. She is currently editing her first novel into some state for submission.

 

 

Russian Red by Brooks Rexroat

Russian Red and dimples when she returns my crosswalk smile; I pivot, hope for eye contact—but it’s just swaying jet black as she recedes.

 
Brooks Rexroat writes and teaches in Cincinnati, Ohio. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Visit him online at http://www.brooksrexroat.com.

 

 

Marine Scene by Joanna M. Weston

The yacht leans into the waves. She trails one hand in the water. Watches the bubbles rise from where his body sank. ‘Champagne,’ she thinks.

Joanna M. Weston has had poetry, reviews, and short stories published in anthologies and journals for twenty-five years. Her  middle-reader, ‘Those Blue Shoes’, published by Clarity House Press; and poetry, ‘A Summer Father’, published by Frontenac House of Calgary. Her eBook, ‘The Willow Tree Girl’ at her blog http://www.1960willowtree.wordpress.com/  or http://smashwords.com/b/137826

 

 

Vermillion by Terry Sanville

The crippled soldier stares into Chaco Canyon. A hawk cries. I look up at the soaring raptor. When I look back, the soldier is gone.

Terry Sanville lives in San Luis Obispo, California with his artist-poet wife (his in-house editor) and one plump cat (his in-house critic). He writes full time, producing short stories, essays, poems, an occasional play, and novels. Since 2005, his short stories have been accepted by more than 150 literary and commercial journals, magazines, and anthologies including the Picayune Literary Review, Birmingham Arts Journal and Boston Literary Magazine. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for his story “The Sweeper.” Terry is a retired urban planner and an accomplished jazz and blues guitarist who once played with a symphony orchestra backing up jazz legend George Shearing.

 

Barely Nude by Ray Sharp

The illustrated woman, inked from her neck to her fingers and toes, stripped down to a smile suggesting she still had something up her sleeve.

Ray Sharp is a published poet and short story writer from the Michigan Upper Peninsula. He does not wear nail polish, but he has been to Warsaw and Gdansk.

 

 

A Story in Four Chapters by M.C. Harris

Otherwise Engaged

Kettle whistles.  Voicemail beckons.  Clouds chug past her kitchen window.  She sips, listens again to the message, finger poised over her future.  Sips.  Listens.  Delete.

Social Climber

She twists her wedding band in circles, contemplates the future: the clack of his teeth, his whistling nasal passages, the peculiar syntax, previously so endearing.

Don’t Think Twice

That little noise he makes when he proves her wrong.  The hand closing to a fist.  The suitcase she packs is of the highest quality.

Warming Trend

Bed. Blanket.  Dear God, a pillow.  From down the hall, whispers of sheltered women filter into the dreams of her children, asleep under donated comforters.

M.C. Harris has been thinking about how and where we end up, and why (Luck? M.C. wonders. Design? Dogged determination? Hard work? Blessings from above?), and invites you to read the chapters in whatever order you choose, in search of the happiest ending.  M.C. continues to ponder the impending supernova.

March

Green Glow 84 by Nathaniel Tower

Signs warned me, but the glowing green pool sang Siren song. Burned like ocean water on papercuts. I prefer ocean, but radiant green is me.

Nathaniel Tower writes fiction, teaches English, and manages the online lit magazine Bartleby Snopes. His short fiction has appeared in over 100 online and print magazines and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His story “The Oaten Hands” was named one of 190 notable stories by storySouth’s Million Writers Award in 2009. His first novel, A Reason To Kill, was released in July 2011 through MuseItUp Publishing. Visit him at www.bartlebysnopes.com/ntower.htm

 

Birthday Babe by Kim Stump

Balloons deflate beneath pink banners; tears tip her lashes. “Where are they, Mommy?”

 ”I don’t know, Sweetie”.

 Ding-dong. We jump, surprised. They’ve come after all.

Kim Stump lives inCharlotte,NC and writes fiction, memoir, and bible studies.

Three pieces by Caroline Coolidge Brown

 Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not

“Does that mean yes?” he asks me. One word can change everything. Whitewash a life submerged in shadows. I give him my Mona Lisa smile.

I’m Not Really A Waitress

Don’t let the grease-stained apron fool you. The Waffle House is not, I repeat, NOT my final destination. ‘Cause, Baby, I’m the next American Idol.

I’m Not Really A Waitress

The eggs congeal and turn cold on your plate as I watch the blood pool on the floor. You won’t call me that ever again.

Caroline Coolidge Brown writes, paints and teaches visual journaling in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bright green toenails make her happy. Check out her artwork at www.CarolineCBrown.com.

 

 

Forget Now by Madeline Mora-Summonte

He sold his mother’s tattered relics at a yard sale. Her favorite ashtray went for fifty cents. His memories weren’t worth much more than that.

Madeline Mora-Summonte (http://MadelineMora-Summonte.blogspot.com) reads, writes and breathes fiction in all its forms.

Two pieces by Annmarie Lockhart

Gettin’ Miss Piggy With It

red glitter against
green lace on white skin,
the sparkles made me do it,
click the photo, hit send
wait for your reply
and smile

Honey Bun

she could have told him
but he would have
thought her vain
so she let him find out
for himself how sweet
she really was

Annmarie Lockhart is the founding editor of vox poetica, an online literary salon dedicated to bringing poetry into the every day, and the founder of unbound CONTENT, an independent press for a boundless age. A lifelong resident of BergenCounty NJ, she lives, works, and writes two miles east of the hospital where she was born.

 

 

Electric Blue by Lisa Nielson

Reflecting off the sand like the clash of every sky, and the beach out of place and for once not the center of the universe

Lisa Nielsen is a single mother trying to balance the mundane with the grooviness of writing.

Two pieces by Mary Struble Deery

 

Clear

Wheeled in, he’s inert, gray and without a pulse. Illuminated like a conductor on stage, Doctor Glass raises his paddles and hollers, “charge, clear, go!”   

Cosmo-Not Tonight Honey

The Russian vodka spill is sticky. Lipstick is smeared. Tripping on her dangling scarf she catches herself before stumbling out the door, into the cold.

Mary Struble Deery fancies herself to be an artist. Not a sculptor or painter, but a “Word Arranger.” She’d prefer playing Scrabble with words. Individual letters, even if they’re Z’s and Q’s, worth a whopping 10 points each, don’t satisfy. Mary worked in the media side of advertising, with numbers and dollars, so never had a chance to unleash her creative side. She’s now making up for lost time. If you want to find Mary, put her keyboard coordinates into your GPS. There you’ll find her fingers flying all over.

Three pieces by Lisa Otter

An Affair In Red Square

He met her at Saint Basil’s Cathedral just after he danced his last Troika. His hair gamboled in a kinky tangle, but she never detected.

Lincoln Park After Dark

Magic Slim’s riffs drift through Lilly’s. The blond messenger guzzles another gin and tonic and waits for the bandleader. Lincoln wants him at the zoo.          

O’Hare & Nails Look Great!

Whenever we knew that someone’s dad was flying out, we’d lie on our backs in G.G. Rowell Park making letters with our bodies. HELLO DAD.

Lisa Otter grew up across the street from G.G. Rowell Park in Lincolnwood, IL and now lives in Charlotte, NC where she dabbles in a great many things including rubber stamping, writing and photography. Her dream job?  Master creator of nail polish colors for OPI.  Check out her newest project, a 365 blog with help from her iPhone, at http://365iphonepictures.blogspot.com

February

Two pieces by Bl Pawelek

 

China Glaze White

With teeth, I pull the white sheets tighter around wrists and hands. I don’t want them smaller like Chinese foot binding. I want them gone.

 

Deep Space

I taste my wife’s lips as the dawn sets. God’s love rests in my breast pocket. “Go on.” It does as instructed, my eyes closed.

 

Bl Pawelek is a dad, hiker and writer. He grew up on a small Japanese island (kinda true) and wonders if his Master’s Degree in Literature was worth it (still not sure). There are stories, poems and plenty of art (Google search). The Equation of Constants and Ten Everywhere and the unfirm line. He tries to show mad love to everyone, especially you.

 

 

Skinny Jeans by Brian Baumgart

She holds the line, long fingers on the doorframe, skinny jeans slung low. With pitch and scream, her daughter rails about the lack of fairness.

Brian Baumgart is the Coordinator of Creative Writing at North Hennepin Community College just outside Minneapolis. He holds an MFA from Minnesota State University, Mankato. His writing has appeared in or is forthcoming from various journals, including Ruminate, Blue Earth Review, Blood and Honey Review, Tipton Poetry Review, and Blink-Ink.

Two pieces by Laura C. Alonso

Ballet Pink

Pale and lovely, these reliable shoes perform–allowing her to dance around all sorts of things you never see that take place behind the scenery.

Peach Skin

No sweet fruit to nourish the spirit, just a thin film that veils each day–velvet cheeks, never kissed . . . the souls of our unborn children.

Laura C. Alonso‘s work has been published in In Posse Revie, Linnaean Street, 3AM Magazine, SFWP, and other online literary journals. She is the former Senior Editor of Fictionline Press and former Fiction Editor of The God Particle (two sorely missed online venues), and she was  was a finalist in the Santa Fe Writer’s Project’s Literary Awards Program in 2001, 2002, and 2010.

 

 

Dream-Maker  by Joanna M. Weston

She sipped the wine; poured more into the glass. Pictured Tom, his hands on her shoulders, breasts. She lifted her glass again. ‘Dream-maker,’ she whispered.

Joanna M. Weston has two cats, multiple spiders, a herd of deer, and a line of prayer flags. Her middle-reader, Those Blue Shoes, published by Clarity House Press; and poetry, A Summer Father, published by Frontenac House of Calgary. http://www.1960willowtree.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

Lincoln Park After Dark by MM Wittle

“KAFKA ON THE SHORE” confounded two more theatergoers. Terrance sliced the salty, autumn air, “Molly’s?” Sasha tugged his hand. “Yes.”  They craved normalcy and cupcakes. 

MM Wittle is a Professor at Neumann University. MM has an MFA from Rosemont College in Rosemont, PA in Creative Writing.  Her thesis, “Family Guidance” and “The Education of Allie Rose” are two plays that won Thesis of Distinction from RosemontCollege. “Family Guidance” had a reading at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, PA and was selected for honorable mentioned at the 5^th Annual Philadelphia Theatre Workshop’s Playwriting Competition. “The Education of Allie Rose” was a finalist in the Philadelphia Ethical Society Playwriting competition.  For the past six years, MM has been a fiction board member of the local non-profit literary magazine, Philadelphia Stories and has written many book reviews and countless blogs for them. MM has also written four book reviews for the creative non-fiction magazine, www.brevitymag.com.

 

 

Copper Coast  by Helen Losse

The lake was drained to fix the bridge.  Sky blue water gave way to brick-red, sun-cracked mud. Copper Coast is a misnomer for what’s yet-to-return.

Helen Losse is a Winston-Salem poet, the author of two full length books, Seriously Dangerous (Main Street Rag, 2011) and Better With Friends (Rank Stranger Press, 2009) and two chapbooks, Gathering the Broken Pieces and Paper Snowflakes.  A reprint of Paper Snowflakes is forthcoming in March 2012 with the title Mansion of Memory.  A part of the proceeds from this chapbook will go to the Joplin (MO) Bright Futures Tornado Fund to help poor children affected by the 2011 tornado in Helen’s hometown.  Her recent poetry publications and acceptances include Main Street Rag, Iodine Poetry Review, Blue Fifth Review, The Pedestal Magazine, ken*again, Referential,  and Literary Trails of the North Carolina Piedmont.  Helen’s poems have been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize and three times for a Best of the Net award, one of which was a finalist.  She is the Poetry Editor for online literary magazine The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature.  Helen uses nail polish to paint angel statues, so she looks for colors she wouldn’t actually choose for her nails as well as the ones she would.

 

 

Russian Roulette by Melissa Ann Goodwin

Yolanda loads one bullet, spins the chamber and slides the gun across the table. Grinning, but not in a good way, she says, “You first.”

Melissa Ann Goodwin is author of The Christmas Village.

 

 

Peach Lover by E.C. Norris

He kept her indoors, with dim lights, from flush eyes. A Creole love call shook the walls, window scraped open. Climbing out, winter flayed her. 

E.C. Norris forgoes regular bedtimes, with mixed results. 

 

 

Smoky Canvas by Dan Sicoli

The allure was bending her into shapes.  At first I thought she did it with mirrors, until I realized I had walked into a fog.

Dan Sicoli is an editor with Slipstream Magazine and press.  Car fenders, broken guitar strings, party dresses, and three-legged dogs have often made their way into his writing.  He also oven dries his own garden tomatoes.

Two pieces by Bruce Harris

Dark Room

He removed the closet door and took pictures with his camera. The fire marshal found traces of him and the door, but not the photos.

High Maintenance

She was beautiful, but keeping her home was impossible.  There were constant oil changes, carburetors, timing belts, tune-ups, you name it, and she needed it.

Bruce Harris enjoys relaxing with a Marxman.

We are still here.

An apology to contributors and readers:  I was unable to post the first monthly issue of nailpolish stories on Feb. 6th as promised.  For a combination of unforseeable reasons, I unfortunately let you down, and for that I am deeply regretful.  As an editor, it’s my goal to be reliable.  I love this journal and am grateful to readers and submitters for keeping it afloat.  Please know that NS is not defunct.  Just needs a day or two to get back on its colorful little track.

Thank you for your patience and check back often.  Hoping to have the issue live by the weekend, and hopefully sooner.

Sincerely,

Nicole Monaghan

Founding and Managing Editor

A Note From the Editor: Change In Schedule.

As many of you know, Nailpolish Stories’ schedule has changed.  New nailpolish stories will still be posted on Mondays.  The first Monday of every month, for twelves months a year, a new issue will be posted.  This is a big change from the weekly schedule NS has kept since September. 

This does not reflect a decrease of readers or submitters or love by the editor.  Rather, it is a reflection of the opposite–more readers, more submissions, a growing (and joyful) investment by the editor, and therefore a greater space between publications becoming necessary.

Thank you for checking in with NS, and please check back the first Monday of every month for new work!

–Nicole Monaghan

Founding and Managing Editor

Helen Vitoria, 1/9/12

Two pieces by Helen Vitoria

No Bees Please

He bought bees, the man from the apiary.  I bought smoke.  We watched them fight the sweet seduction to fly right into it and burn.

 

Tangerine Scene

In the piazza, Elenora hides from the downpour.  Above from the veranda the tangerines fall.  She remembers the weight and never felt this small before.

Helen Vitoria lives and writes in Effort PA.  Her work can be found and is forthcoming in over fifty online and print journals including: elimae, PANK, MudLuscious Press, >kill author, Poets & Artists Magazine, FRIGG Magazine and Dark Sky Magazine.  Her chapbooks: The Sights & Sounds of Arctic Birds and Random Cartography Notes are available as e-chaps from Gold Wake Press, 2011, BLACKWATER: A PNEUMATIC DISTURBANCE is available from Red Ochre Press, 2011.  Her first full length poetry collection: Corn Exchange, is forthcoming from Scrambler Books, Winter 2011. She is working on a novel(la) in verse: Amsterdam. She is the Founding Editor and Editor in Chief for THRUSH poetry journal. Find her here:  http://helenvitoria-lexis.blogspot.com/

Best Of 2011

Nailpolish Stories is a baby.  One that I’ve loved delivering and watching make surprising faces.  This week, in honor of the new year, I thought I’d look back and post two “Best Of” pieces from each of the four months since NS’s birth.  “Best Of” pieces were chosen for their unique language, breadth of story in so few words, emotional impact, and the complex and original relationship of the title to its story.

–Founding and Managing Editor,

Nicole Monaghan 

From September:

 

Wife Goes On by Gary Percesepe

In Amagansett, the wooden houses sag.  Her sunburned children walk the creaking floor.  She rests her feet on the blue sofa.  The ocean spills light.

A New Yorker living in exile in Ohio, Gary Percesepe just completed a novel titled LEAVING TELLURIDE, set in Telluride, Colorado. The novel features a goth girl named Anna, whose blonde roots keep showing above her Chrissie Hynde bangs. For more on the Tomboy No More girl you can go to NYC, or here: http://www.foundlingreview.com/May2011Issue1Percesepe.html    Or, well, OK, here:    http://wigleaf.com/201005bg.htm

 

Cherries In The Snow by Kierstin Bridger

The drifts were higher than our leg-warmers.  We promised those cute college boys, thought we’d return with our undies in our back pockets, but no.

Kierstin Bridger lives a renaissance life in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, designing, writing, reading and planning the next great adventure.  Her published works include Condomnation in the 2011 issue of the Porter Gulch Review, the one act play  in The University of Washington’s literary publication Bricolage.  Her short story Girl’s Room, was printed in UW Women’s Voices. Her flash fiction piece will appear Spring 2012 in Stripped: A Collection of Anonymous Flash Fiction from PS Books.   She is the 2011 winner of the Mark Fischer Poetry Prize.

 

From October:

 

Bahama Mama by Sara Lippmann

Their hotel had one of those kids’ clubs so parents could drink away their vacation, staring past the pool, silent, swirling celery snappy as whips.

Sara Lippmann is a writer inBrooklyn. Follow her on twitter @saralippmann

Lady Like by Len Kuntz

I used to study them—bright bruises the color of mustard and plums, shaped like continents or crafty creatures—mother’s artwork on a flesh canvas.

Len Kuntz is a writer from Washington State.  His work appears widely in print and online at such places as The Literarian, Boston Literary Magazine, Elimae and PANK.  Every few days he writes about life and other things at lenkuntz.blogspot.com

 

From November: 

 

Alpine Snow by Barry Basden.

Farther south, the snow’s pristine, but the Hürtgen’s dirty, trampled. We wait in holes, our weapons freezing, staring into darkness, afraid they’re coming for us.

Barry Basden lives in Texas and his writing has appeared in many fine places. He edits Camroc Press Review and has never had a manicure.

 

Shifting Power  by David Tomaloff

Sundresses and summer have replaced her boys and winter.  She walks lighter along the shore, casting names into the sea—beginning again, one by one. 

David Tomaloff is a writer, photographer, musician, and all around bad influence. His work has appeared in fine publications such as Mud Luscious, >kill author, Connotation Press, HOUSEFIRE, & elimae. He is the author of the chapbooks 13 (Artistically Declined Press), A SOFT THAT TOUCHES DOWN & REMOVES ITSELF (NAP), Olifaunt (Red Ceilings Press), EXIT STRATEGIES (Gold Wake Press) and MESCAL NON-PALINDROME CINEMA (Ten Pages Press). He resides in the form of ones and zeros at: davidtomaloff.com

 

From December:

 

Cherries in the Snow by Angel Zapata

Blood stains the toilet seat. “We’re not pregnant?” I ask, softly. She falls to her knees, wails. Outside, a snowflake melts on a child’s tongue.

Angel Zapata was born in NYC, but now lives near Augusta, Georgia. Some of his fiction and poetry has appeared in The Boston Literary Review, Long Live the New Flesh, The Best of Every Day Poets, and The Flash Fiction Offensive. He is author of the Trestle Press short story horror series, The Man of Shadows. He also edits 5×5 Fiction: 25-word stories told in 5 sentences of 5 words each. Visit http://arageofangel.blogspot.com and http://5x5Fiction.blogspot.com

 

Curtain Call  by M.C. Harris

He showers and hangs the towels in the wrong configuration.  She deals with the damp spot, grown cold, with the flaccid sadness of surrendered condoms.

M.C. Harris waits for the approaching supernova, and writes.

Joanna M. Weston, 12/26/11

Photo by Kierstin Bridger

 

Curtain Call  by M.C. Harris

He showers and hangs the towels in the wrong configuration.  She deals with the damp spot, grown cold, with the flaccid sadness of surrendered condoms.

 

M.C. Harris waits for the approaching supernova, and writes.

 

 

Two pieces by Joanna M. Weston

 

Starry Pink

Starry pink she went. Up for grabs under the tent.
Pushed out, shoved into country beyond trees or sky.
Just there, with him. That kiss.

Cherries In The Snow

Bright scarlet, carmine, maroon drops. Leading down the
path to the lake’s edge. Grey water and sand. No body.
Just feathers, yellow claws. Snarling cat.

 

Joanna M. Weston has two cats, multiple spiders, a
herd of deer, and one dead mouse. Her middle-reader,
‘Those Blue Shoes’, published by Clarity House Press;
and poetry, ‘A Summer Father’, published by Frontenac
House of Calgary.    http://1960willowtree.wordpress.com/

Victoria Large, 12/19/11

Photo by Kierstin Bridger.

 

Two pieces by Victoria Large

 Meteor

She thought rock stars were more like doomed astronauts than real stars:  blasting off, soaring until someone grabbed the escape hatch, and then hitting Earth.

Hot Lava Love

It was all tacky and sweet.  He bought her a convenience store rose and a six-pack of hard lemonade.  Alone in the garage, they kissed.

Victoria Large is a Massachusetts native who holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her short fiction has appeared in such publications as Blink Ink, Cafe Irreal, Umbrella Factory Magazine, and Wordriver, and she has a story forthcoming in matchbook.