It sits in your chest
heavy and angry and dark, sucking up
all your energy
mocking your movements
any attempt at all
you make pretending
you’re worthwhile
full of life
and plans and ideas.
A go-getter
a real fuckin’ self-starter.
Creative
Pretty Wreaths and Palm Trees
Creative, Published, Short StoriesThe following was published on Short Fiction Break’s Spring Writing Contest. Read the whole piece here.
I sat outside on the curb staring at the tip of my cigarette burning. I watched the tip glow in the reflection of the sewer water before I put it out.
I hadn’t wanted to come home for the holidays; I knew what to expect from my family. But I’d thought, Maybe, just maybe, this time we’d connect.
The Fire
Creative, Flash Fiction, PublishedThe following was published on Febuary 25, 2018 on #thesideshow, FIVE:2:ONE Magazine’s online publication. Read it here.
The bed felt hot and I looked down to see single flames erupt between our horizontal bodies. I couldn’t be sure who had started it—we both held used matches, the tips blackened and still hot, smoldering. He wasn’t surprised, unwillingly accustomed, and I attempted to put it out, smother it with blanketed apologies and the weight of my body, but that only angered it more, growing and spreading as we stoked it with sharp insults and stored-up old emotional problems like newspaper for kindling.
The Hat
Creative, Flash Fiction, PublishedThe following was published in The Ignatian Literary Magazine, Spring 2011.
I found a hat on the ground. Thought it could be yours. Could be big enough to fit your head. Or small enough. I picked it up, dusted off the dirt and grass, put it on for safe keeping.
Kara Someday 