Adultery #3 (fall) by Christopher Locke

A hemorrhage of maple trees blots the horizon. Everywhere, sunlight sweet-talks the edges of things: the purple wheels of aster, a gutted shopping cart. You embrace her in the covered bridge. Underneath, a river charts history sluicing boulder and bank, airless pebbles, a honeyed gurgle as if someone were drowning an angel. This is the last time we can do this, she says. You close your eyes and wish you were that brave. Soon she will return to her home: its toothy white fence; a death squad of rose bushes.

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CHRISTOPHER LOCKE — Christopher’s flash has appeared in such magazines as SmokeLong Quarterly, Jellyfish Review, Barrelhouse, Flash Fiction Magazine, MoonPark Review, New Flash Fiction Review, Maudlin House, Tiny Molecules, Flash Boulevard, and elsewhere. He won the Black River Chapbook Award for his collection of speculative short stories 25 Trumbulls Road. His latest book of poems, Music For Ghosts, (NYQ Books) and a memoir-in-essays, Without Saints, (Black Lawrence Press) were both released in 2022. Chris lives in the Adirondacks and teaches at SUNY Plattsburgh. 

Art by LEE HAMMERSCHMIDT — Lee is a Visual Artist/Writer/Troubadour. He is the author of 11 books of short stories and illustrations. Check out his hit parade on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/MrLeehammer