Freekly Fiction Vol. 1
Hours After Midnight
by Garrett Parker
I love this sky
at nighttime
when the sun lies
far below its last
glint.
With time spent
recollecting
how the night was
with friends
who seem
unfit.
When crypts
are alive
with lives and lies
lost in lullabies.
They cry
the songs of
nighttime birds
echo drunken
slurs
keep the
night in sync.
It’s the
only hour
I can think.
In Times Past
by Dani Hamburg
She’s eight years old
Imagine that
With a mud stained shirt
And a hat turned backwards
She is amused by the cricket on the ground
But her mom frowns and snaps,
“Don’t touch it!”
She’s faster than the boys on her team
She spits farther than all of them
She comes home with blood and bruises on her knees
But I smile and think to myself
“Just like me”
If I could I go back to those golden days
To one more genius football play
Then I could trade in stiletto high heels
For worn out sneakers and bare-foot days
If I could tell her one thing
I’d tell her to run from society
Because once they hand you lip-gloss
There’s no turning back
And once they put mascara on your eyes
It’s no surprise that things are different
Girl, listen
Listen to me
If I could go back to that dreamy world
Of hopping fences in late October
Then I could relive the pranks we played
That had us laughing all day
When I ran free with my brother
And his old pals around the corner
Oh, the way I’d laugh in times past
Take me back
I can’t go back
Oh the way I’d laugh in times past
If I could go back
But I can’t
So I spend my days encouraging her
To be herself and to never change
Passing
by Erin Anderson
Warm smiles and friendly hellos-
hidden in a pad-locked box.
Simple gestures of kindness
stowed away for later dates.
In passing they are strangers.
Swift silent movements
as they glide past one another without a word.
Conditioned to fear,
our faces set in stone-
cracking a smile fractures the rigid mask.
But she is strong
like a flower growing out of a mountain side-
a beautiful oasis amidst barren stone.
Her glowing smile brightens his silent world.
The glorious simplicity of the most human act
makes his day.
She is his savior with
the gentle upturn
of her sweet
lips.
