Flora Fiction

02/02/2025

Hantavirus can extinguish its human host by filling the lungs with fluid. Deer mice carry and spread the virus. It doesn’t kill them. That’s my job. Kill or be killed. After our wedding, my husband and I buy a home in the woods. Our ramshackle outbuildings are overrun. I pour bleach throughout the well house before sweeping away droppings. Moist brown pearls blink at me from behind fractured drywall....

Hantavirus can extinguish its human host by filling the lungs with fluid. Deer mice carry and spread the virus. It doesn’t kill them. That’s my job. Kill or be killed. After our wedding, my husband and I buy a home in the woods. Our ramshackle outbuildings are overrun. I pour bleach throughout t...

01/26/2025

I declared him deadin my own mind, at least.There are so many storiesI’ve writtento explain his absence.But people still call his namewhen they look at me.No one is deaduntil their billsstop getting mailed to your house.No one is deaduntil you finda home for their glassware collection.No one is dead…...

https://florafiction.com/in-absentia-by-elle-snyder/

I declared him deadin my own mind, at least.There are so many storiesI’ve writtento explain his absence.But people still call his namewhen they look at me.No one is deaduntil their billsstop getting mailed to your house.No one is deaduntil you finda home for their glassware collection.No one is de...

01/19/2025

James Edward the Third entered the world like a limp bruise—purple against the sterile room—in a silence that hurt my ears from straining, stretching and stretching, taking with it his brain cells and future. Some of you will know what I mean. I'm sorry for that. The only thing I heard in that bright emptiness was me. I wished I would shut up, so that I could hear him....

James Edward the Third entered the world like a limp bruise—purple against the sterile room—in a silence that hurt my ears from straining, stretching and stretching, taking with it his brain cells and future. Some of you will know what I mean. I’m sorry for that. The only thing I heard in that...

01/12/2025

The Thudding Obelisk From the opulent shores of the Nileto the warm savannahs of the Serengeti,tales of her strife and sacrifices span centuries,revealing all her numerous struggles and triumphs. she carries the weight of historyon her slant and subtle shoulders.the many scars on her thick skinare the trophies she got from protecting her kind…...

The Thudding Obelisk From the opulent shores of the Nileto the warm savannahs of the Serengeti,tales of her strife and sacrifices span centuries,revealing all her numerous struggles and triumphs. she carries the weight of historyon her slant and subtle shoulders.the many scars on her thick skinare t...

01/05/2025

The studio is exactly like him – cold. It’s too big to be kept warm. The ceilings are too high. The blankets too thin and the gas stove too expensive. I am always cold here and I think, maybe he is too. But he must like it. He must be unbothered by it. The brushstrokes must keep his fingers limber and the pale blue of my veins under my sallow skin must be an exciting muse....

The studio is exactly like him – cold. It’s too big to be kept warm. The ceilings are too high. The blankets too thin and the gas stove too expensive. I am always cold here and I think, maybe he is too. But he must like it. He must be unbothered by it. The brushstrokes […]

12/29/2024

lately, I’ve been dancingon all my tears without slipor fall —every Plier I’ve bended,every Entendre I’ve stretched,every Relever I rose, everyGlisser I would glide, everySauter I jumped, every ElancerI darted, every Tourner I turned. my dance floor is drenched in tearsand still I dance and still I maintainmy balance. lightning strikes, flash…...

lately, I’ve been dancingon all my tears without slipor fall —every Plier I’ve bended,every Entendre I’ve stretched,every Relever I rose, everyGlisser I would glide, everySauter I jumped, every ElancerI darted, every Tourner I turned. my dance floor is drenched in tearsand still I dance and ...

12/22/2024

Deep within Denver’s pediatric hospital, Henry Sokol sat at the brightly lit Market Place Food Court where he had barely touched the day’s special, a pasta puttanesca. He hadn’t eaten in more than sixteen hours. “Try some soup—tomato bisque, quite good,” said his wife, Arlene. Concern showed in her normally bright eyes dulled by lack of sleep and narrowed by worry....

Deep within Denver’s pediatric hospital, Henry Sokol sat at the brightly lit Market Place Food Court where he had barely touched the day’s special, a pasta puttanesca. He hadn’t eaten in more than sixteen hours. “Try some soup—tomato bisque, quite good,” said his wife, Arlene. Concern sh...

12/15/2024

In her first nightmare, he is a mouse, skittering between the towering trunks of chairs and tables, while his death is a famished cat watching him through cruel, green eyes. She is not there in the dream, or she is so far away that even his wide mouse-ears can’t hear her screaming at him that it’s coming, it’s just around the corner, it’s almost there!...

In her first nightmare, he is a mouse, skittering between the towering trunks of chairs and tables, while his death is a famished cat watching him through cruel, green eyes. She is not there in the dream, or she is so far away that even his wide mouse-ears can’t hear her screaming at him that […...

12/08/2024

I am the letters you avoidchoosing in a game of hangman guessing. I am the dirty dishes,overlooked until you can no longer stand the reek of it. I am the raisins in your bread.You hate raisins ever since your dad left. I am the almost empty shower bottlesyou fail to empty any further. I amtoo much…...

I am the letters you avoidchoosing in a game of hangman guessing. I am the dirty dishes,overlooked until you can no longer stand the reek of it. I am the raisins in your bread.You hate raisins ever since your dad left. I am the almost empty shower bottlesyou fail to empty any further. I amtoo […]

12/01/2024

Tell the poetsGrief is in the waiting roomA cold hand with visible veinsFingernails filled with dirt -Dirt of the dead where worms unwind andKnot and unwind and knot.It is in the broken skin of a child’s kneeIt is the seconds before the cry -The realization everything burns more than usual How in that moment, it feels like you can’t go back Everything breaks above you, unwinds and knots Unwinds and knots....

11/24/2024

gray closet walls surrounda bag filled with Hallmark cardssimply sitting in the corner lighting wicks of sweet wordsa flame glows towardsforgotten memories faded relationshipsreappear in colliding colorsthey blend into wistfully warm huesi love you’s in harmony withi’m proud of you’s sing softly on the cardstock the sensitive smilemouthing these messagesis entranced by handwritten love…...

gray closet walls surrounda bag filled with Hallmark cardssimply sitting in the corner lighting wicks of sweet wordsa flame glows towardsforgotten memories faded relationshipsreappear in colliding colorsthey blend into wistfully warm huesi love you’s in harmony withi’m proud of you’s sing soft...

11/21/2024

On the drive in from Cheney, he tuned to classical music. Brahms, the readout informed him. A new taste, and he didn’t know why. Maybe that he read classical music was soothing. The engine noise seemed to have fixed itself, or, maybe, the tick-ticking had been his imagination. This was no time for auto repairs, but he was better off than some guys....

On the drive in from Cheney, he tuned to classical music. Brahms, the readout informed him. A new taste, and he didn’t know why. Maybe that he read classical music was soothing. The engine noise seemed to have fixed itself, or, maybe, the tick-ticking had been his imagination. This was no time for...

11/17/2024

The man climbed the sedge grass hill, treading a path cut into the hillside by thirty years passage of his boots. He owned the land beneath his boot soles, insomuch as any man can claim ownership of a piece of this earth. His land and his name; Karl Nilsson.He wore a duck canvas jacket over a denim shirt, both buttoned to the neck to keep out the fog....

The man climbed the sedge grass hill, treading a path cut into the hillside by thirty years passage of his boots. He owned the land beneath his boot soles, insomuch as any man can claim ownership of a piece of this earth. His land and his name; Karl Nilsson.He wore a duck canvas jacket over […]

11/17/2024

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11/10/2024

In shadows of yesteryear, she dances alone. A silhouette of pain, a spectre etched in moonlight’s shadow;wearied by the turbulence of a heart’s distress, of cascading sorrows veiled in tears. A labyrinth of longing, entwined in a chilling mist she wavers. Once a portrait of grace, now weathered oak scarred by the hunter’s axe;her canvas frayed against relentless storms,...

In shadows of yesteryear, she dances alone. A silhouette of pain, a spectre etched in moonlight’s shadow;wearied by the turbulence of a heart’s distress, of cascading sorrows veiled in tears. A labyrinth of longing, entwined in a chilling mist she wavers. Once a portrait of grace, now weathered ...

11/03/2024

His dialect, a legacy fraught,Of poets mad, in chaos caught.Born of blood, from newborn's birth, Under wedlock's absence, a curse on Earth. Counterclockwise, their deeds unholy, Quiet neighborhoods, on rampages trolly.Mercy fled, their hatred reigns,Irrevocable, in twisted veins. Once blood, of Pacific's waters,Carried love, like ocean's daughters. Yet, from compassion's grace, a light, His words took flight, in freedom's might....

His dialect, a legacy fraught,Of poets mad, in chaos caught.Born of blood, from newborn’s birth, Under wedlock’s absence, a curse on Earth. Counterclockwise, their deeds unholy, Quiet neighborhoods, on rampages trolly.Mercy fled, their hatred reigns,Irrevocable, in twisted veins. Once blood, of ...

10/31/2024

It’s another topic I’ve come to hateAnother argument I need to debateI can’t fight the waves despite the restraintIt’s hard to find the strength to replace I move through the seasons with a thorn in my chestI move through the aisles with the ash where I treadYou will never see the cards I carry in my hand…...

It’s another topic I’ve come to hateAnother argument I need to debateI can’t fight the waves despite the restraintIt’s hard to find the strength to replace I move through the seasons with a thorn in my chestI move through the aisles with the ash where I treadYou will never see the cards I ca...

10/27/2024

She wanted to believe he was different than the man he turned out to be. “A man who puts his hands around your throat is lethal. Even if he lets go. Even if it isn’t a full squeeze. Even if he promises never to do it again,” the speaker explained. “Whatever else happens next, those fingers around your neck mean you’re at greater risk of being murdered....

She wanted to believe he was different than the man he turned out to be. “A man who puts his hands around your throat is lethal. Even if he lets go. Even if it isn’t a full squeeze. Even if he promises never to do it again,” the speaker explained. “Whatever else happens next, […]