The Day Before Yesterday

Meanwhile, Franz Kafka sells another piece of his dead mother’s jewelry to pay for his brothel visits. Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse go horseback riding together. Alma Mahler has just aborted their child. The police question Picasso, but he has an alibi and they release him after slapping him around. Summer is fading, and Rainer Maria Rilke feels it as a wound in his chest. Using an alias, Adolf Hitler boards a train for Munich to escape conscription in the Austro-Hungarian army. Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is missing from the Louvre. Museumgoers lay flowers in front of the bare wall.

From Guest Contributor Howie Good

Howie's latest poetry collection, THE HORSES WERE BEAUTIFUL, is forthcoming from Grey Book Press.

Let Go, She Said

“What do you think you’re doing, young man?”

The waiting room on platform 10, a jewel of early 20th century art deco, was rather crowded, but Lady Sophie had – as always - the most comfortable seat. She lay down her book, a first print of ‘Homicide on the Western Rapid’ by Dame AC Miller. Lady Sophie was absolutely ill tempered, because she was about to discover what the brilliant detective Benoni Pommier was about to úncover.

“If you don’t let go of my handbag immediately, you’d better start praying. Let your undoubtedly very rare little grey cells do their work.”

From Guest Contributor Hervé Suys

Hervé Suys (°1968 - Ronse, Belgium) started writing whilst recovering from a sports injury. To impress wife, kids and closest friends, he does this barefooted and hatless.

The Grave

When the old man stopped and wiped his brow, the echo of his shovel continued for a beat. The grave wasn’t deep enough yet, but it was getting light. Every year for the past ten years, he was at the same beach, digging a grave. The digging took longer each year, but he never missed the day. Every year he buried a part of her. It became easier each year; piece by piece, he was healing. The ocean took the love of his life and each year he buried a piece of her favorite jewelry he knows she would want.

From Guest Contributor NT Franklin

The Gravity Of Shame

Daphne has a secret.

She's scared to speak of it. She doubts anyone will understand, even her closest friends. She only ever wanted to fit in, and so she's hidden her affliction for more than a year now. She's bought heavy boots, wears bulky jewelry, and ties herself to her bed at night, to avoid drifting away.

She's searched on Google to no avail. She thinks about seeing a doctor, but what if they want to do experiments on her?

In the end, she decides it's easier to float into the eternity of space than to admit she's gravity immune.