Taiwan 1969
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

Taiwan 1969

by Karen Kao
My mother is an octopus. She collects our comic books, straightens collars, and slings bags across her narrow chest. She prods my brothers and me down the airplane aisle with her hard beak. Out in the squid inky Taipei night waits a grandfather we will meet for the first time....
In The Neuro Unit
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

In The Neuro Unit

by Patricia Foster
Old men lie pale and shrunken, their blood pressure cuffs wheezing, their heart monitors beeping, their oxygen levels flashing bright green numbers on small computer screens as their brains sigh and shudder with dreams of summer slumber, of supple thighs and willing bodies, of late-night assignations and the creaking back...
Epistolary Weaved with Birds and Grass After Long Hospital Stay
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

Epistolary Weaved with Birds and Grass After Long Hospital Stay

by Sean Thomas Dougherty
Dear L, The morning paper opens to a story about a body found in the bay. Snow in moonlight in May, blue as a hospital gown. I take care of a man who seems to forget what he is going to say almost as soon as he is going to...
About the House
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

About the House

by Sven Birkerts
first narrow bars of light through the slits in the blinds… a thatch of hair in the brush, fingernail parings by the edge of the sink…   percussive splatter of coffee grounds against the plastic liner… slow rising sound as water from the tap fills the bottle…   dervish of...
Living Seams
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

Living Seams

by Michelle Koufopoulos
1. My partner likes to record himself talking in his sleep. I’ve listened to him order eggs, grow giddy over mushrooms, worry about spinach yields. In the morning, he’ll play back the recording and his eggs, mushrooms, spinach will be punctuated by my own sounds: whimpers, cries; last night a...
It’s About the Size of a Clenched Fist
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

It’s About the Size of a Clenched Fist

by Richie Zaborowske
You probably don’t remember, but you were with me for my final hangover. You were just three and needed a flu shot. The revelry from the night before hung onto me, smothered me, made each movement a chore as we made our way to the doctor’s office. But I want...
Dick
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

Dick

by Gabe Montesanti
I arrive in face. The concealer and contour, still wet on my cheekbones, gives the illusion that I am a man. I’ve painted an Adam’s apple on my throat and drawn thick hair on my upper lip and eyebrows. My breasts are tightly bound, nipples pulled back under my armpits...
Oh, You’re a Mean, Old Daddy
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

Oh, You’re a Mean, Old Daddy

by Robert Long Foreman
I was driving my daughters to Staples. They like to go to Staples. I needed more pens. The song “Carey” came on, by Joni Mitchell. The wind is in from Africa. Last night I couldn’t sleep. Et cetera. After the first verse, Rose asked what the song was about. She’s...
After More War News
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

After More War News

by Gary Fincke
The moon, lately, was a celebrity, full and a few miles closer than usual, enough to bring three of my neighbors outside near midnight. One of them suggested a chorus of “Auld Lang Syne,” but I was alone with my reference to the approach of planet Melancholia, how, for one...
Slowly, Slowly
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

Slowly, Slowly

by Heather M. Surls
The face is my goal—al-wijh—and though as a barista I once pulled hundreds of crema-crowned espresso shots daily, this, my friends, is different. On first attempt, my coffee stares up at me without a hint of creamy face. Flat, like a soda without carbonation. When I ask our Jordanian neighbors...
Running in Place
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

Running in Place

by Kaila Lancaster
In the fourth grade I wanted to be good at the mile. I wanted to be faster than the fastest girl in my class: the girl with the doctor dad and the straight brown hair and tan thin legs. I would never be faster but my football coach dad took...
I Should Have Left Him Then
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

I Should Have Left Him Then

by Hayli May Cox
You are at a frat party in Michigan—your first and only. Your cousin invited you to see the snow sculptures the houses erect every winter, mythical beasts glistening under clear February sky. His frat is one of those academic, no-secrets-no-hazing ones, and you watch them sing (silly song title) as...
Safe As Houses
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

Safe As Houses

by Aliceanna Stopher
In September you’re dating a woman who is too good for you—who is inquisitive, kind, who tells you she loves you and whose heart you break without meaning to or trying. You have a good run of it, Sundays all tangled up, meeting one another’s friends, trying to figure out...
Darning
Current Issue / Issue 72 / January 2023 / Nonfiction

Darning

by Patricia O’Donnell
I am a grandmother of two middle-school-aged girls who call me “Granny,” and I darn socks. Not many people these days take the time to do it. People will throw holey socks away and buy new ones. As I darn in my wooden rocking chair, I know that with my...
Latest Issue
Issue 72 / January 2023

Issue 72 / January 2023

January 16, 2023
Our new issue features powerful nonfiction flash from Patricia Foster, Sven Birkerts, Gary Fincke, Karen Kao, Patricia O’Donnell, Aliceanna Stopher, Heather Surls, Sean Thomas Dougherty, Robert Long Foreman, Richie Zaborowske, Michelle Koufopoulos, Kaila Lancaster, Gabe Montesanti, and Hayli Cox
Craft Essays

Craft Essays

January 16, 2023
New in our Craft Section, Anna Farro Henderson explores world-building and narrative structure in science writing, Bryan Furuness joins Sarah Layden to advocate for using lenses in the revision process, and Aaron Gilbreath demonstrates how “theme” in nonfiction can “expand the gaze of one person’s life to reveal something larger.”
Teaching with Brevity

Teaching with Brevity

January 15, 2023
Our TEACHING RESOURCES pages offer a diverse set of resources for writers and teachers of the flash form, including teaching tools, syllabi, prompts, craft essays, subject and craft element indexes, and much more.    

 

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