The Scylla’s Blanket

What a delightful day for a picnic!
The waves of Charbydis lapped against the beach
Helios had not yet set upon the Cliffside
And the song of Sirens played softly over the dune
Scylla laid in wait upon her blanket in the sand
for sailors, the most scrumptious of company,
To pass by her snare
She will reel them in like a fisherman
Entice them into her cavern with her sway
Posing all twelve of her long tall legs for the show and
Nibbling on appetizers of caviar and starfish

Fleets edge up to Beauty’s blanket
But only six men will be served
They would be wined and dined upon
A pound of meat; A bottle of red
“Oh, yes, dears, there is plenty enough to go around
Would you like some more?
You sure are a group of big strong lads.”
The conversation goes on like this
With the choral serenade still lingering in the distance
The calming waves churning along the shore
And Helios preparing for bed
Scylla smiles with all of her teeth
Then she cries
She wines like a babe about ceaseless desire
Here, they cry for her
She brings them close to her lips
They enter her and are consumed by her ways

The feast is done
The lambs were harvested on a bed of kelp
The ox were well seasoned with salt and brine
Beef and poultry and pig and man
All were taken down her gullet
With nary a crumb left for the ants
The men lay strewn about the den
From the ravenous ferocity of their hunger
In spent puddles along her floor
A little of them here
A little there
“Seconds?”
Gracious Host has the nerve to ask
“Dessert?”

“No, thank thee, m’lady.
But we must be on our way.”

This Dryness

 

New Short Story by Tyson Moore – This Dryness – a kafka-esque metamorphosis of man into fish satirizing a fanatic science minded eco community he is having trouble living with

“My armpits itch.

I come from a wet area. I am not accustomed to this dryness. A hot and humid climate where people swim to work instead of walking. Or they drive. Everybody drives there. Nobody walks. I do not walk. I no longer can walk. I sit on the couch hoping the pain in my feet, the neroma, the swollen nerve located between the big piggy and all the little ones, recedes enough to make it into the bathroom for another shower.

The shower helps. Sometimes I just lay down in the basin of it, letting the water hit me like rain. It is all because of this dryness. This dryness makes my skin crack. It peels. Not like a sunburn. There is nothing warm about it. It stings. It is cold inside and dead on the out.”

go here to read more

also featuring a group show of art and photography from santani, lena abujbara, mawhrin skel, Fröhner-Ehmke-Gretscher-Gruber-Roloff-Richter-Schuh-Beck (aka – joe babel), zamburak, andrea gerstmann, ronnie mukherjee (aka – sumanta226), and alyssa nicole

 

image by Ronnie Mukherjee

The Best Day Ever by Jeffey Frye

A California boy dreams about his best day ever, how much he loves Taco Bell, the beach, and getting high. Also a photo review of Thomas Hawk’s flickr stream.

“Mrs. Dickers wants the class to write a story about their best day ever. She said it could be real or not. She helped me to spell some words. She said I was a real good speller anyway. My last name is hard to spell because it reminds me of French Fries but it is spelled different. My first name is easy except everyone calls me Jeffey instead of Jeffrey. She helped me spell that too. She said it was okay to write Jeffey since I like it better. She said I should put a space here before I start my story.”

click to read the story

“Our artist on this piece, Thomas Hawk, might be considered that type, but to pigeonhole him into a single genre would be unfair. The sheer quantity of his online work immensely overstates any one kind. With close to 40,000 photos in his Flickr collection in just 6 years as a member he is only a fifth through his lifetime goal of a cool mill. His 30 grand explains this.”

click to the review

New Daudi Rainmaker Story!

I just posted a new Daudi Rainmaker story – Through the Desert. It is part 2 of a multi-part set. Over the Mountain is part 1. There is also a stand alone short introduction to the character called – beloved trickster. I am still trying to catch up on posting all of my past stories here, so you do not get a neat header and all that yet. For some reason I like to keep that stuff in order.

But I thought you might like to know.

Plus, a photo review of Cameron Grant.