Benjamin Klein

His personality: serious, somber, takes-more-than-his-share-office-donut robber. His writing: poignant, thoughtful, cheeseburger/llama-full🦙

Writings

Followers

Following

Benjamin Klein

His personality: serious, somber, takes-more-than-his-share-office-donut robber. His writing: poignant, thoughtful, cheeseburger/llama-full🦙

Writings

Followers

Following

Curse Words

Top 10

Benjamin Klein

1 min read

“So my friend Angela says she thinks she’s cursed,” Becca said, taking the lid off her hot latte cup. She leaned over the tiny circular table when she said it, because it was pretty busy in the coffee shop.

“For real?” Jasmine said. She let her grin burst forth. “Like, for reals cursed?”

“Yeah, like cursed by a witch or something, she didn’t say how she got it, though,” said Becca and she sipped...

Horror

Humour

Double Cross

Top 10

Benjamin Klein

5 min read

Cash wasn’t his real name. As far as robber aliases go, it was a little on the nose, but it got the job done. His crew only knew him as Cash.

At this moment, though, Cash wasn’t his name, either.

His name was Robert Lewinsky, the Brinks Security guard.

So as Cash entered the bank vault, involentarly smoothing out the front of his fake Brinks uniform, Robert Lewinsky swallowed hard.

This was...

Crime

Vengeance Burning

Top 10

Benjamin Klein

2 min read

The screeches the cloned dragons made were fading away, flying miles to the north, wreaking a path of chaos across the San Fransisco hills. Smoke piled up from the objects that had been burning…which was everything: every business, every home, every man, woman, and child. No one would be able to tell the difference between stop sign and oak tree, between bicycle and five year old. Everything was c...

Fantasy

Action

Still Seeing Angels

Winner - 1st

Benjamin Klein

3 min read

Year: 1924

So now I’m floatin’ up into the sky along with everybody else in view. We look like damned champagne bubbles risin’ to the rim. I make a decsion right then: if I ever get my loafers back on dirt, I’m tossin’ my soberity out the nearest dive bar window.

We’re risin’ into the sky, maybe a mile up now. Men are clinging to their hats, women have lost their ...

Heatseeker

Top 10

Benjamin Klein

1 min read

In the heat of the day

I ate meat on a tray

With ghost pepper spray

And spicy cheese souffle’

Washed it down with coffee

What is wrong with me?

All I really want is to be

Cool and heatstroke-free

I put on a wool sweater

The one with the red letter

didn’t make me feel better

Just made my face redder

I then ran into a sauna

Began to feel some heat trauma

Why do I do what I don’t wanna?

Why don’t...

Poetry

Blood In The Water

Winner - 3rd

Benjamin Klein

4 min read

Ocean water splashes across their feet. They stand a short ways from the shore, its sand dark and soaked. Their foot prints had been visible a moment ago.

Now, washed away.

When the waves recede, Gloria nods at Lin. Surfboards under arms, they move further out.

The ocean rocks back towards them, bringing the unknown hidden underneath towards them as well.

Gloria hears Mike through her earbud...

Best Men

Ben Klein

3 min read

On a hot summer afternoon, Jim shoves the large tan sofa chair into the middle of the room. He has now formed a triangle of chairs.

Jim sits in the large tan sofa chair. His was the tip of the triangle. He sits only on the edge of the chair, anxious and fidgety.

Frank sits in the brown folding chair to the left of Jim. It creaks.

Dave sits on the big bean bag chair, designed to look like a gia...

I Die And No One Cares

Ben Klein

1 min read

kids run and play

so do I because I am one

Recess in a parking lot

Lots of skinned knees

On that hot cement slab

Twirling round and round

At first I don’t see the children flee

Dizzy vision shows everyone run

Through doors that lock

I’m alone

The cicadas swell from the trees

The noise draws me to turn

Behind me, beyond the parking lot

Coming through the trees

Sprinting across the tan grass

I...

Learning The Eternal Presence Of The Living Llama Of Light

Winner - 2nd

Ben Klein

1 min read

It began the day I was born

Speeding car, stress and drama

Pulling over, gave birth in a field

standing there, a staring llama

My parents look at him

Llama looks back

They stare and stare

Then that was that

Second grade talent show

Stage fright, laughter and spewing

Running away, hiding outside

Next to the slide, llama chewing

I look at him

Llama looks back

We stare and stare

Then that was ...

The Place Where Death Dwells

Winner - 3rd

Ben Klein

7 min read

“Your going to fail, you know,” my guide tells me as he turns to leave. “You are going to end up dead, like all the others.”

We had just cleared the thick wall of jungle; slashing vines, bushes, and branches with our machetes. It had taken two full days to clear, stopping often from exhaustion. Once our water ran out, Javier and I began slashing with an extra boost of desperation, and that saved ...