April Come She Will

Men on the street would call my girlfriend lindo. “Get used to it,” she said. I decided the best thing for me to do was nothing. April had been designated Artichoke Month. I remember we saw a movie about astronauts on a mind-bending journey to the cosmic womb. It was confusing and a little scary. She got really into the singer-songwriter who had committed suicide by stabbing himself in the chest. There were long lines outside liquor stores and gun shops. One day we found a hand-lettered cardboard sign lying abandoned on the sidewalk: Hungry & Cold / Anything Helps. From Guest Contributor Howie Good

Howie is the author most recently of Stick Figure Opera: 99 100-word Prose Poems from Cajun Mutt Press. He co-edits the online journals Unbroken and UnLost.

A Different Kind Of Prestige

This is a story about two astronauts. At first they work together, but something happens and they become enemies. Each dedicates his career and his entire life to destroying the other. In the end, they both end up the loser.

You could say this story is just like The Prestige, but in outer space. The one astronaut does in fact have a twin brother, who's also an astronaut, but they keep this fact a secret until the end. The other astronaut flies a special space ship built by David Bowie.

They both keep many dead birds in their astronaut suits.

Missed Opportunities

The Universe may not be infinite, but it's pretty darn close.

Odds are, somewhere in the cosmos a ship of fun loving aliens can be found cruising the star systems. These extra-terrestrials are the most beautiful beings in the universe. You say it's unlikely, but in fact it's almost a certainty. It's simple mathematics.

The next generation of astronauts, or the generation after that, could be the first Earthlings to encounter these beautiful alien party babes. Unfortunately, every one of our astronauts is a socially retarded science geek. The party of the eon is going to fly right past us.