Flash Frog
Small. Brightly colored. Deadly to the touch.
Category: Uncategorized
No Dead Bodies in the Dining Room by Kathryn LeMon
*THE BLUE FROG 1st PLACE WINNER* Introduction by Guest Judge AIMEE BENDER: Last year I was so taken by Elisa Gabbert’s close reading of Auden’s poem “Musee des Beaux Arts” and how she considered the ways that dailiness and tragedy live in the same moment in… Continue Reading “No Dead Bodies in the Dining Room by Kathryn LeMon”
The Whale Bone Man by Kaylie Saidin
*THE BLUE FROG 2nd PLACE WINNER* The kids are playing by the creek when the whale bone man appears out of the thicket of wooded trees. On this day the fog is hanging so low and so thick it seems they are surrounded by… Continue Reading “The Whale Bone Man by Kaylie Saidin”
Patagium by K.C. Mead-Brewer
*THE BLUE FROG 3rd PLACE WINNER* Sidney stands naked and eleven before her bedroom mirror, her white arms held out in a crucified fashion. She imagines the skin of her underarms stretched down to attach to the skin of her legs. She wonders if… Continue Reading “Patagium by K.C. Mead-Brewer”
Oxidation by Tommy Dean
They said we couldn’t hold a birthday party at the bottom of the ocean. That there were laws against such things. That the costs were too much for the fish, for the city, for the coast guard, who grudgingly admitted that they would have… Continue Reading “Oxidation by Tommy Dean”
Invisible Enemies by Christine H. Chen
Your Ba has gone mad was what Ah Ma spat out in between her hissing and huffing. Without closing the door behind her, she stomped off to Madame Wong, our apartment neighbor, which said a lot about Ah Ma’s state of mind, considering she’d… Continue Reading “Invisible Enemies by Christine H. Chen”
Fatherhood as Just a Point of View by David Williamson
I button the snaps on Ollie’s onesie between his Pillsbury dough-roll thighs. He throws his legs skyward and catches his heels. I count his ten toes. I press the bottoms of his feet to my lips and breathe in the sweet, buttery smell. I… Continue Reading “Fatherhood as Just a Point of View by David Williamson”
Useful Skills by Michelle Ross
Bernie and I are in her pool, sipping canned pinot grigio and swatting mosquitoes from the little bit of skin we haven’t submerged. Bernie keeps a close watch on the sky because I have a headache, the kind that forecasts storms. I’m a human… Continue Reading “Useful Skills by Michelle Ross”
Shadowing the Gravedigger by Gary Fincke
Because the gravedigger agreed when Jack asked to ride with him, Jack is in his truck waiting for a mid-winter funeral to finish. “I keep my distance,” the gravedigger says. He shifts his body to expose more of his window, leans back as if… Continue Reading “Shadowing the Gravedigger by Gary Fincke”
Good Wood by Brett Biebel
Our neighbors got foreclosed, and the bank never came by, and so we watched the house falling down. Weeds growing up. It looked like one of them barns out in the country where it’s all still standing but only just, and you can imagine… Continue Reading “Good Wood by Brett Biebel”
Bleached by Rob Yates
Tide’s out, and the bones of his ancestors are gabbling in the air. He can tell which ones belong to whom – dents in the cranium, density of a femur, thickness of coccyx and clavicle. Granny’s are the flat brown yellow of tar, gloom… Continue Reading “Bleached by Rob Yates”