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“I miss the song of cicadas.” “Song? That screech like a crow just ate a powerline? You’re just being dramatic.” That’s how I remember my first marriage. When we first met she would bake browni...

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“They spend all day digging in the dirt.” “Huh? Who?” “These women.” “You know I’m not actually in your head right? I have no idea what you’re talking about. What women?” “There’s a name for ...

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In his room there is a photograph. There is an inch of black matte behind the photograph and a simple thin silver colored frame. A pane of glass covers the photograph. The glass is spotless. The ...

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“SHWS?” “Huh?” “Your shirt, it says SHWS.” “Oh, heh. I had this shirt once, nice, pullover, had an M with wings on both sides, I used to tell people I was part of a Polo Gang, the Flying Mothe...

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“There’s something really fucking wrong with you man.” “What?” “It’s mostly kids that come to these things.” “I know right? This’ll scare the bejesus out of them.” “You put a few guys in shee...

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“So what do you do?” “Buy me a drink. Ask me my sign.” “Ok, what’re you drinking? What’s your sign?” “Jack and coke and fuck you.” I smiled. It was a nervous smile. An ex-girlfriend once told...

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It started with one dog, the year of very bad luck, it started with one dog. We paid a thousand bucks for the stud fee to have Clarisse bred with Spike, a pedigree Norwegian Elk hound with ten bl...

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The Dialogue “She sets the martini on the piano top. It falls and spills on the keys. She stares at the gin spilling through the keys. She tips the candle over and the keys ignite. Her face is l...

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When the kids were little and their home was broken I’d use my days with them to hike. It’s hard, that, there’s an urge to overcompensate, a desperate brave face apology often bought in ice cream...

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“Lute loot. Christ that’s horrible.” “Sorry, what?” “23 across --- stolen string instrument.” “It’s not the man it’s the machine.” “No, I’m pretty sure it’s lute loot, the ell’s fit, 6 down i...

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“They say we leave this world the same way we come into it; Naked and alone.” “Really? I’m pretty sure my mom was there when I came into it, unless you’re a pro-lifer then, at bare minimum, my m...

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Late afternoon traveling south, the sun broken by trees in the meridian separating north bound lanes from the southbound, something heavy and old is on the classics station, foghat, maybe Uriah h...

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“Are you with the bride or the groom?” “Boss, it’s me, I’m with the caterer.” “Really? That center piece looks like an armory for the in laws, what’re those, grenades?” “Pineapples boss, you s...

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dogs with human faces “It’s about quality of life.” “Like dogs.” I said. Ok, it had been leading to hostile and hadn’t the patience to let it steep. She took a deep breath, I could almost hear...

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Institutions look at your flaws, they have too; the job is to instill virtue by conformity. Learn the same stuff, wear the same stuff, go through the same pain; kindergarten, the navy seals, jail...

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Once the gloves come off, the lips have been bit and the promises tossed, someone is going to walk away and someone is going to lay there. Doesn’t matter whether it’s on asphalt or Egyptian cotto...

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This isn’t a flash. It’s a rough draft of an idea. I’m not even sure I like the narrator or his character. I think, however, there’s a short story in here somewhere with the idea. If I revisit it...

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Blood on the court “It was me, I wrote random numbers on your walls.” “I’m on fire.” “I’m glad.” “I love you too.” And they embraced among the cacti, miles away a Joshua tree clumped and nor...

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Another avoidance entry. How I look at flash prompts. Please, not a tutorial or even suggestions, just what I do with them. Blood on the court. Let’s say that’s the prompt. The first thing I th...

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We called her ice storm. Ok, I called her ice storm, it doesn’t matter what the other pricks called her, I’d chosen my lot and being part of the pricks made me a prick in the singular. I’m sure t...

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This is my take on flashes, short fiction, not running naked through the commons. My take on running naked through the commons is; go for it, it’ll look good on your resume. I’ll come at it sidew...

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Kingdom of dirt, pencil lead, sway “It’s all about pattern recognition” Joe grunted, tossing a shovel of dirt. “Ok” I tried not to say shit when I had nothing to say and there wasn’t any reas...

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She would talk to crows; not at them, with them. She would not talk to Purple Martins, not Owls, not the bright red cardinals or the dull dusty cardinals, not jays, or robins; she would talk to c...

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My most sincere apologies. In a day rife with fuck-ups, fuck-tardery and fucking-running/sideways, this adds nothing to the greater good. It’s a contingency flash. Swear I got a real one coming. ...

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zen, nano, shuffle, touch (I refuse to be lead to a creative labs mp3 player flash, though, bang for buck the zen stone is the best little mp3 player ever) “So, yeah, the guy told me som...

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