Fiction

[Image by Illustrations by Jia Sung] This itch is not a normal itch. It has to do with pain. If the itch were a normal itch, its signal would travel…

In the Garden of the Bats I wanted to prove to the neighbors that I had pizzazz, so I went ahead and built a garden of night-blooming flowers. With the…

1. Origins and distributions We hear birds at night. I imagine they are cardinals but Lou argues for sparrows. We know for sure they aren’t supposed to be here. But…

* * * The beginning Breath in, Breath out. Bring your arms up to the ceiling, Inhale— Drop your arms, And exhale. Drop your eyes to the floor, Let your…

The Untapped Gold Mine of Taco Bell That Virtually No One Knows About “Grilled chicken burrito, no ranch avocado sauce. Substitute Fritos in for the avocado sauce.” The front of…

Whack! I crimp cable in a computer factory. Never successfully. No matter how hard I try to master crimp connection, the inspector calls me back and asks if I know…

1. Once upon a time a young girl lives her life free from the constraint of clothing. She is vulnerable, as you might expect. Perhaps even unaware of her vulnerability…

An owl lives in the sweet gum, and tonight it has flown to our rooftop. Its calls float down to me—low and hollow—like curls of carrot peels around a bowl.…

[Image: Mathieu Croisetière by Sophie Lécuyer] Lavinia is next door. She needs you to go over there to help her take a bath. She will be impatient by now, stewing…

Victor Savic tugged the chain of his bedside lamp. Another ring. “Get it,” his wife mumbled. Victor swung his legs out from under the covers. The floor was cold. He…

Dayo looked towards the train terminal and thought of all the ways he could die right now. Jumping in front of it, or stampeded by even-toed pouch animals—let’s call them…

The president is silent. To get into office, he had launched an erratic and often unintelligible campaign—an army for space, anti-immigration, anti-plant and animal, pro-large, expensive, and medieval wall, pro-flak…

There’s one behind the house, between the stacks of empty oil drums. She can hear it mewling. More voices join in, a miniature chorus of cartoonish pitches. This is how…

[Image: “Modern Mythology” by Rebecca Rebouché] A caged parrot, fireflies, two cheating husbands. A marriage that persisted and a marriage that is perishing. I remember my mother sobbing into my…