She waddled to imitate the penguins behind the glass, committing with a dead-eyed, bird-like stare. Her friends cracked up and tried to do it too. Monica’s version was much funnier, Lenin thought, lurking behind a wall of fish. Then, as a crowd passed through the floor between exhibits, she spotted him across the empty space, and their eyes met.

Lenin turned away immediately, not letting the mom...

Feeling blue like waves

Ebb and flow — Always moving

With nowhere to go...

Julian walked off the train, still drunk, and turned his head twice to check both ends of the platform. The sliding doors closed behind him. The train passed him by.

A man in a trench coat sat on a bench at the far end of the platform. He watched Julian as he stood still at the platform’s edge, nearly falling asleep on his feet. Julian jolted awake as gravity began to take course, and he stumble...

“So, what is it?” Jahna cringed looking at the soup that had been served.

Her partner for the night, Kal, sat across from her, and a grin bloomed that showed the deep dimples in his cheeks.

“It’s uh,” he tilted his head as he spoke, floppy braids tilting with him, “it’s Cthulhu tenties…” Kal stopped short at the sight of Jahna staring down the bowl. He could see she was horrified, disgusted, a...

Word had come from on high about the wreckage in Section Nine. They were finally ready to clear it, the last of what the war left.

After so long, and in such a remote place, nobody wanted to touch it. That’s when the pay got bumped up and suddenly everyone was raring to go. But we were the first ones to book tickets.

Niecy knew it was the payout we needed, so she couldn’t say no. I don’t think...

The oar

Is an amusing thought

Pushed off against the dock

Of reality, and already I’m

Adrift in a sea of dreams,

Stranded in a moment,

I’ll spend lifetimes

On its currents

And then it’s

All sand, I

Washed

Ashore

Again...

“Would you help me?”

The girl, a ghost, asked with a desperation that was sincere but peppered with self awareness.

Allie was walking to the gym of her housing complex and had to turn around to see the apparition. Her headphones were in, but the girl’s voice had cut through. Allie scanned her. She had curly hair and wore a sundress. She was also more faint than the others, and Allie wondered w...

Ms. Feeny was better than most

At keeping her classes engrossed

So when the bell rang

As quick as a bang

She was home, rolled up and smoked!...

A blade of grass among many bends at the weight of a resting butterfly. The blade bounces as the butterfly floats away.

It’s wings beat in a steady rhythm through the warm spring air. It hangs low to ground, drifting aimlessly for a while. Then it rises, almost as if to get a better view. But just as quickly as it rose, it falls back to earth, and with a soft approach, lands neatly on a bright ...

Centipedes inched through the skin

With a head like a rock

Squirm in yourself and rediscover

A natural fear

Anxiety shapes our movements

But we will change its shape

From a balloon, ever expanding

To a gentle stream

It will flow through us and outside,

And the weight will lessen

A spell of bodily origin,

Lining all of you

Within and without, a small word

Can make all the difference...