Project Archives

“Your card declined.” “What?” “Do you have another card? This one declined.” I shook the incredulous stare from myself and dipped another card into the machine. Again: Declined. “I don’t know what’s going on,” I fumbled. “I think I’ve got some cash somewhere…” “Don’t worry about it, Sonya,” the purple-haired barista smiled. “You’re in hereContinue reading “I am Not Ms. Sonya Livelle”

They say you go crazy out here, but he hadn’t thought it was true. Sure, the moon sucked, but at least there was a way off of it. And if there was a way out then you weren’t locked in. They say you go crazy out here, but he hadn’t thought it was true. Sure,Continue reading “Stuck on the Moon”

Anne skipped home after school, careful to not step on the cracks on the sidewalk. It was fun to pretend the cracks would grow and swallow her up if she stepped on them. Her mom held her hand but wasn’t walking fast enough. Anne was excited because they were going to the petting zoo! “WhatContinue reading “The Petting Zoo Goat”

Irene closes the vial of radium paint, sneaking it into her bosom. The watch faces illuminate with undark vitality. The countdown begins. Pinching cheeks for color, polishing shoes with holes in the soles, the girls dance the Charleston without partners at ten. “For the boys in the trenches,” they say. Eleven, Irene paints her home’sContinue reading “Radiation Therapy”

I never thought sharing secrets in the dark would mean coming out. Stephan passed me the almost empty tequila bottle. “Okay, Rene,” he said. “Your dare is to French kiss a girl.” “What?” I said. “Here?” I thought camping was a way of escaping the facade. “Right here, right now,” encouraged Colton. “What’s so scaryContinue reading “Playfully Serious”

“Am I wearing too much makeup? The red lipstick is a bit much, isn’t it.” Madeline turned her head from side to side, scrutinizing her face in the mirror. She puckered her lips at her reflection and then she wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like my eyebrows. Do you think Steve will hate my eyebrows?”Continue reading “Double Ds”

The dragons are in spiteful sleepLaid to rest in water’s deepCurled to hide or curled to fightLocked away in winter’s plight. Thick ice like cloudy skiesSouls as dark as remembered liesSleep my dragons, sleep tonightFor summer eyes shall be wide and bright. Angel tatters flutter on the hillGuarding wizards hoping to killCaptor and captive chainedContinue reading “The Song of the Dragon Watchmen”

They say loneliness is a dark place Like a cave or a pit, shut eyes bring an endless night without stars to map the shifting heavens. I search for movement, evidence of time passing Proving there is a beginning, a place this was born And a promise of an end whether with answers or not.Continue reading “Where is the Star of my Soul?”

One by one, she watched the dark lines wriggle up and down, to and from the tunnel entrance in the center. Following foot to feeler, ant after ant after ant wrapped in random yet neat patterns like a spirograph inside the tiny formicarium. She watched for another minute, breathing evenly, and thinking about what lifeContinue reading “We Are Not a Colony of Ants”