October, 2022

  

Two pieces by Edmund Fines

 

I Have A Herring Problem

They said brennivín paired well with herring dishes. And they said there weren’t any polar bears in Iceland. Yet here I am, drunk and running.

 

The Cows Come Home

Behind a Bangalore market stall, docile beasts grazed upon a garbage heap. A motorized rickshaw stopped behind them. They flicked their tails and continued eating.

 

Edmund Fines is a returning Nailpolish Stories author. He has had short stories published with Acta Victoriana, Smoking Pen Press, and Shoreline of Infinity.

 

Licorice Canary by Doug Hawley

In the 1950s I noticed the asphalt melting on a summer day and smelled fresh yellow curb paint while feeling brain cells die.  Not now.

Doug has written many things.  He is included in analogies “Strange Religion” and Dark Dossier #68 just out, and “Pure Slush Lifespan – Work to appear”.  When not writing, he eats, drinks, sleeps, and walks.  The former actuary lives with editor Sharon and decorative cat Kitzhaber in Oregon USA.

 

Four pieces by Erin Mackenzie

 Sea the future

 

Am I a poet,

or just a woman

with a sickness

that guts me like a fish

and splashes my innards

out in pretty lines?

 

Moonrise

He shrugs. “I’m a lone wolf. I can’t be tamed, you’ll see.”

I smile. “Darling I hung the moon, and you’ll soon howl for me.”

 

Perfect storm

 He whispers, “You’re fragile, let me take care of you.” 

I roll my eyes. 

He doesn’t know that my parents named me after a hurricane.

 

Center of the you-niverse

 “I’m looking for something casual,” he says. 

“I’d cut off my ear and give it to you.” 

Delete delete delete. 

I text back, 

“me too.”

 

Erin Mackenzie is a self-taught poet who has finally shed the belief that poetry is only made meaningful and worthy by degrees in English literature or creative writing. A future mental health professional, Erin is a graduate of the University of Georgia, and a soon-to-be graduate of Louisiana State University with a Masters in Social Work. In her free time, she loves reading collections from female confessional poets, listening to vinyl records at an inappropriate volume, smothering her cat, Lolita, with love, and baking unsolicited pies for her friends. She is working on her first collection of poetry, bits and pieces of which you can read on her poetry instagram @ErinInVerse.

 

 

Serene Green by Stacey Komosinski

Lush greenery flanked the winding road.

The mountains and fresh air beckoned me.

I craved quiet. I begged for peace.

A permanent vacation was required.

 

Stacey Komosinski is a contemporary romance author. She writes “sweet heat” love stories based on realistic healthy relationships that bolster someone emotionally and support their life goals. She loves strong female characters and sweet, devoted male characters. Stacey grew up strongly influenced by her mother’s love for reading and belief in library access for all. She holds a master’s degree in molecular biology and is employed as a supply chain product leader within the pharmaceutical industry. She makes Pennsylvania her home with her husband, Teddy, and their large, blended family.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m My Own Hero by Peggy Gerber

She said I wasn’t smart enough for college. So I went.

That I’d never be a writer. So I wrote. 

I say, “Believe in yourself.”

 

Peggy Gerber began a writing career in order to fill the void created by becoming an empty nester. Since then she has been published in many online magazines and anthologies.  It seems to be working out for her.

 

Lose your Lingerie by Len Saculla 

The washing machine ate odd socks. When it mysteriously gobbled Jill’s pink bra, she got annoyed, stuck her arm right in. Felt the inexorable pull…

 

Len Saculla has most recently been published online in “The World of Myth”. Prior to that, he has been a Pushcart nominee during a spell of being regularly published in anthologies from Kind of a Hurricane Press. He has also been highly placed in a couple of literary competitions.  

 

Rendezvous by Jan Cronos

Blind, she stumbles in the cemetery.
Losing her balance, she’s falling into an open grave.
The arms that save her are a corpse’s cold embrace.

Author lives in NYC under the pen name
Jan Cronos. In that world, strange things
are common.

 

 

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