Category: Side A

New Prose Poem “Biscuits”: Sean Thomas Dougherty for Side A

Biscuits Sometimes when I look at the sky I see the clouds become figures seated at a big table. Look, my mother-in-law says, those clouds look like the Last Supper. But it is more like the last brunch, on any Sunday not Mother’s Day, at the Polish Falcons social club, and all the Bushas gossiping…
Megan Merchant & Luke Johnson Lyric Epistolary Collaboration for Side A

What do we do when the black hole comes,—to L my son asks before the hours lighten. I know so much of this lifeis unreal, but yesterday I cut my lip and flooded my mouth with blood. I read about parents that chew food then mama-birdit into their babies’ mouths so they won’t choke. Haven’t…
Side A Flash Fiction: “Another Life” by Darci Schummer

Another Life In another life, I am married to a Japanese man who was born in Toyko. “Moshi moshi,” he says when he answers the phone. We fell in love because he had a pompadour and wore leather pants, could play a hollow-bodied Gretsch guitar behind his back. At night, his dexterous hands made a…
S.R. Ponaka: “Just a Letter in the Mailbox,” a flash fiction for Side A

Just a Letter in the Mailbox My niece wants me to write a love letter to her father. They are visiting from New York, and all the rooms have been taken over by suitcases, so I’ve set up my laptop on the kitchen table, where I’m finishing up some urgent work emails before I can…
“The Woman of His Dreams,” a flash fiction by Kimm Brockett Stammen for Side A

The Woman of His Dreams He’ll meet her when he’s sleeping in the right bed. He’s planned out what to do: he will grab her. Gently, carefully, of course. He is not exactly sure how hard one has to grab to catch hold of a dream. But he will grab, nonetheless, and hold on, and…
Fiction for Side A: “Feast” by Andrea Marcusa

Feast The double-wide steel door clanks shut. I stand next to the man who collected me from the waiting room. We are the only people in the huge elevator. I am naked except for my thin gown. The man barely looks at me. He rolls back on his heels and digs his hands into his…
Side A Short Story: “Adults Told Me” by Mark Benedict

Adults Told Me 1. My science teacher told me that life was slapdash. I talked to him after class sometimes; science was one of the few subjects in high school I was interested in. “God’s plan my butt,” Mr. Burke said, slurping coffee. “Evolution is flukier than the weather. Would a divine plan really include…
Poetry for Side A: “Dear Cut-Glass” by William Erickson

Dear Cut-Glass, It’s been longerthan I thoughtthis trail of bloodwould go, butthe mountain isso much smallerat its peak thanwhen we drewthose picturesinto the duston your windshield.Do you still have it,the baby we madefrom all thoseleftover dinnerconversations?Remember, wenamed it Alice andcalled your parentswith the news butno one answered.The sky is fallingis a thing we’d saywhen it…
Side A Fiction: “Before All That” by Lauren Woods

Before All That In the end, she sells me for only a hundred dollars. “Women in this market usually go for larger karats,” the woman at the pawn shop with the nails filed down to pink nubs tells her without blinking. She doesn’t stop to think it over, doesn’t caress my head a last time…