tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54702987451128686552024-03-05T04:30:10.932-08:00DOGZPLOT FLASH FICTIONF(lash) R(ules) E(verything) A(round) M(e)DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comBlogger932125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-55500167201251476322018-08-08T16:21:00.000-07:002018-08-08T16:22:49.763-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kplzj709G6_O0-YZiuF4g_KghOT68Xi0nKZ9v8Vef47Atkh1pIVGzBxXT5el8D6OmXwUTAKyKQ58pdaoPXVb5CchX3GyMYBqgH91iHHZCyo_fN9h0B3NhoqPLRZ2K3kEldDT-bouMds/s1600/vladimir-putin-photo-u26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="650" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kplzj709G6_O0-YZiuF4g_KghOT68Xi0nKZ9v8Vef47Atkh1pIVGzBxXT5el8D6OmXwUTAKyKQ58pdaoPXVb5CchX3GyMYBqgH91iHHZCyo_fN9h0B3NhoqPLRZ2K3kEldDT-bouMds/s400/vladimir-putin-photo-u26.jpg" width="323" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Vladimir Putin</div>
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<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/08/nice-clean-matt-loughlin.html">NICE & CLEAN</a></b><br />
Matt Loughlin<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/08/bat-enclosure-tim-love.html">BAT ENCLOSURE</a></b><br />
Tim Love<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-private-moment-of-realization-tim.html">A PRIVATE MOMENT OF REALIZATION</a></b><br />
Tim Flagg<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/08/at-retirement-hotel-linda-lowe.html">AT THE RETIREMENT HOTEL</a></b><br />
Linda Lowe<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/08/fire-joseph-s-pete.html">FIRE</a></b><br />
Joseph S. Pete<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/08/diamonds-and-pearls-lee-deamali.html">DIAMONDS AND PEARLS</a></b><br />
Lee DeAmali<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/08/frostbiting-helen-sparrow.html">FROSTBITING</a></b><br />
Helen SparrowDOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-14190156725131693462018-08-08T16:10:00.005-07:002018-08-08T16:10:29.346-07:00NICE & CLEAN - matt loughlin<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As he stood in the shower, lukewarm water running down his face
and blocking his ears, he realized he didn’t know a goddamn thing.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seriously. Not a goddamn thing, he thought.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What he knew - or thought he knew - felt feeble and and untested.
Information accrued from a wash of random stimuli - like pond scum that gathers
along the banks of a rushing river. He knew fragments of parts of things people
thought they had once heard from some guy in a bar somewhere a few years back.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He couldn’t even remember if he’d already washed his armpits or
not. He lifted his arm and sniffed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Matt
Loughlin</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.mattloughlin.com/"><span style="color: black;">www.MaTTLoughlin.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Occultation and Other
Stories<span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Laird Barron</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-86996212751273007432018-08-08T16:09:00.004-07:002018-08-08T16:09:25.390-07:00BAT ENCLOSURE - tim love<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nowadays you want something more darkly hot-blooded than a butterfly pavilion
but again you're disappointed - bats flap fingers, not arms, and won't
cause a distant storm. Simple rain confuses their echoes. You fear the
chalk screech of their blackboard world, their surprise fur and parched
membranes, the gust as they pass your cheek, the way bats feel moths pass.
Moths screech back to confuse. All you can do is leave through the
air-locked door, rejoin your parents who look so happy now, picnicking in
the sun where you left them arguing. They kiss. You could sneak up and
surprise them.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Tim Love</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://litrefs.blogspot.co.uk/"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://litrefs.blogspot.co.uk/</span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white;">Fen</span></i><br />
</span><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Daisy Johnson</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-54204379584286971152018-08-08T16:05:00.004-07:002018-08-08T16:05:59.987-07:00A PRIVATE MOMENT OF REALIZATION - tim flagg<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ignacio Santo kicked his snake-skins up on the desk and tore open
a raucous, juicy, terrible fart. The stray cat he picked up the day before at
the 7-11, whom he named Muhammad Ali, looked at him and hissed. Ignacio's eyes
swam in the back of his head and his brown cheeks inflated as he laughed and
laughed and laughed at his flagellant and Muhammad Ali's hisses. Once his
laughing fit ended, he unscrewed a bottle of Texas hooch and took a sloppy
swig, spilling some on his tie. He normally wore a bolo tie, but not today, his
wife made him wear a regular maroon neck tie she found at the department store
where she was always buying towels and curtains and secular looking crosses to
hang on the wall. She told him bolo ties were for rich white men in Houston
sitting in high-rise offices built on the profits of black gold, not
construction foreman like Ignacio who's office is a trailer that is in a
different place every couple of months. She said his workers probably didn't
respect him when he wore a bolo tie. She said they probably called him a clown.
He didn't think his workers cared what tie he wore considering the majority of
them were felons who would gladly walk around with a syringe tucked behind
their ear like a cigarette if Ignacio tolerated that kind of thing. Oh well, he
thought, let his wife dress him, feed him, and shave his back, just gives him
more time to day dream and ignore responsibilities, he figured. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Tim Flagg</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.artslant.com/chi/artists/show/365393">https://www.artslant.com/chi/artists/show/365393</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Spaceman of Bohemia<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jaroslav Kalfar </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-91144763216481202722018-08-08T16:04:00.003-07:002018-08-08T16:04:37.457-07:00AT THE RETIREMENT HOTEL - linda lowe<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ruth told the cook that
when she was growing up in Tennessee, her mama fixed turnips once a week.
Said this to the cook like she was Queen of the South, and the next thing you
know, we’re stuck with turnips on the menu. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ruth, with the red, red
nails of a hussy, three diamond rings, and then to have to listen to her golden
bracelets clinking over the roll basket. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She’s the queen all right,
just ask deaf Will. Nearly always after ice cream he shuffles over to our
table, shouting to Ruth, “I love your beautiful face, why oh why don’t you come
to Bingo, darling?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then last night after three
nights in a row interrupted, when I merely say, “I’d like to get through just
one dinner without the paramedics,” Ruth starts in with how fortunate we are if
our blood’s thin enough, if our hearts can hold us up. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As if I didn’t know.
As if I hadn’t lost my Paul.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Linda Lowe</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">lindalouiselowe@yahoo.com</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A
Gentleman in Moscow<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Amor
Towles</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-6449708462683524272018-08-08T16:03:00.001-07:002018-08-08T16:03:05.020-07:00FIRE - joseph s. pete<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When they set the bed on fire the first time,
it skittered back--motored by their shimmying motion--toward the
closet, over some strewn-about candles she asked him to light to
set the mood.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Saints alive!” he blurted out as flames
flashed, not knowing from whence that exclamation came.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He slipped out, grabbed the burning blanket and
beat it on the floor until the embers died. He dashed to the kitchen,
snatched an orange juice carton and doused the charred fabric.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Honey, it’s okay.”<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;">“Dear, you can’t be too careful. One little
lingering cinder can reignite a fire. A huge blaze could snuff us
out while we sleep. The smoke, that’s what gets you.”</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;">After that, the candles went into hibernation
in the hall closet.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second time they set the bed on fire, the
reintroduced candles were again the culprits. They drifted off into
the arms of Morpheus in their joint embrace with the wicks still lit.
One somehow toppled off the dresser.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nostrils thick with a smoky stench, he soon had
every last candle in the apartment cinched in a trash bag.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Hell,” he thought as he stood before the
dumpster. “I hope to hell this doesn’t symbolize a thing.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #212121; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Joseph
S. Pete</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">twitter.com/nwi_jsp <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Flashes of War<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Katey
Schultz</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-57191313330193207342018-08-08T16:01:00.005-07:002018-08-08T16:01:49.639-07:00DIAMONDS AND PEARLS - lee deamali<br />
<div class="yiv9901792602msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He throws his arm around me, says, “You know what else
Bob and me got in common? We’re both still crazy about our wives. No kidding.
At the conference in Vegas where we met, other guys were checking out the
scenery, needling us to join them at some parties. We weren’t interested. No
one could believe after being married 30 years, we’re both still madly in love
with you ladies.”</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv9901792602msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv9901792602msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I exchange a half smile with the woman beside me. He
removes his arm, turns away to continue discussion with Bob on the finer points
of some topic that never held my interest. There are things his partner and I
may have in common, but nothing we can freely share, waiving down the waiter,
empty goblets raised.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Lee
DeAmali</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #006621; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://leedeamali.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: black;">https://leedeamali.wordpress.com/</span></a></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Undaunted Courage:
Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stephen Ambrose</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 14.4pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-84845411802651266352018-08-08T16:00:00.002-07:002018-08-08T16:00:26.327-07:00FROSTBITING - helen sparrow<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He was always above my
longing looks, never once thought that it might be a kindness to engage me,
instead of expending all his energy making sure any conversation I tried to
start promptly met its death.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It took me awhile, but now
I realize that his shoulder wasn’t the only cold thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Helen Sparrow</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">hsparrow19@gmail.com <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cat of Many Tails<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ellery Queen</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-30821943349908307282018-07-03T15:28:00.002-07:002018-07-03T15:29:06.963-07:00DOGZPLOT FLASH FICTION<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDgFd0mFEvmmy2wYB62iaHeO10jlmyqckgQrdLWvhmqcK_UbObeHd8mOvxAvkd5bMr0C6wEzUh-fzckFf7-zTwM3x0tYRLdkng1D8H3tpd4i7Sintp8I-fGYtAl8_aAFsoCsWQ7BuqlYg/s1600/george-w.-bush-exhibits-30-painted-portraits-of-world-leaders-designboom-09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1033" data-original-width="818" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDgFd0mFEvmmy2wYB62iaHeO10jlmyqckgQrdLWvhmqcK_UbObeHd8mOvxAvkd5bMr0C6wEzUh-fzckFf7-zTwM3x0tYRLdkng1D8H3tpd4i7Sintp8I-fGYtAl8_aAFsoCsWQ7BuqlYg/s400/george-w.-bush-exhibits-30-painted-portraits-of-world-leaders-designboom-09.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
George W. Bush's World Leaders Series</div>
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-passing-of-it-lauren-bell.html">THE PASSING OF IT</a></b><br />
Lauren Bell<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/07/these-goddamn-yearbook-photos-really.html">THESE GODDAMN YEARBOOK PHOTOS REALLY BRING 'EM BACK</a></b><br />
A.S. Coomer<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/07/unlifted-simon-john-cox.html">UNLIFTED</a></b><br />
Simon John Cox<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/07/punk-serenade-valerie-lute.html">PUNK SERENADE</a></b><br />
Valerie Lute<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/07/natural-limits-jeff-nazzaro.html">NATURAL LIMITS</a></b><br />
Jeff Nazzaro<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2018/07/freddie-grays-haunts-christine-stoddard.html">FREDDIE GRAY'S HAUNTS</a></b><br />
Christine StoddardDOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-22854858957429311672018-07-03T15:09:00.005-07:002018-07-03T15:09:48.083-07:00THE PASSING OF IT - lauren bell<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Take it, keep it, it's
yours now,” she said.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“What am I supposed to do
with it?” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“You'll figure something
out, I’m sure.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He tugged at the hair
curling at his temples. She loved his curls like natural waves, kissing his
brow, but she knew that if she told him how much she loved them, he would get
rid of them, taking the scissors to his own hair.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Do what you want with it,” she
said. “I trust you.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Why do you put me in these
situations? What kind of terrible person are you?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She recoiled slightly, as
though an invisible hand had smacked her once, hard, across the face, feeling
the tide of blood clouding her skin, and she was ashamed; ashamed for
asking this of him when, actually, it was really all her fault.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He took her hand and looked
at her with eyes as wide and blue as oceans.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Help me,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She turned away, and
in this simple act, she felt removed from him, from them, from it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“I trust you,” was all
she said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Lauren Bell</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/52343138-lauren"><span style="color: black;">https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/52343138-lauren</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>This Savage Song</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">V.E. Schwab</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-42513416725250920692018-07-03T15:06:00.000-07:002018-07-03T15:06:06.692-07:00THESE GODDAMN YEARBOOK PHOTOS REALLY BRING 'EM BACK - a.s. coomer<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cindy liked dope almost as
much as me. Liked to put out when high.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Goodbye, Virginity. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brother had a fat stash, no
qualms sharing and their parents were never home. <i>Nashville Skyline</i>
dropped in April and I remember taking Cindy on her twin bed with “Lay, Lady,
Lay” playing low on her nightstand turntable. “Time of the Season” blaring
through the wall, her stabs of breath and Dylan’s jangling croons made it every
bit the big brass bed it wasn’t. That hadn’t been our first time but it might
as well’ve been for all the good I’s at it then. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the all the good I’m at
it now. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Saw her the other day.
Picking out peaches with what must’ve been her grandkids. <i>Great</i>-grandkids,
maybe. Had this light in her face, looking down at the fuzzy fruits in the
tiny, upheld hands. Kids all shining eyes, open mouths, snotty noses. Red, red
cheeks. Cindy smiling like they do in those greeting-card commercials but hers
real. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I didn’t go talk to her.
Don’t know why. I went on by, not hurrying, just my normal grocery store
stroll. Got the butter, bread and beer and made it home in time for kickoff. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>A.S. Coomer</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.ascoomer.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: black;">www.ascoomer.wordpress.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Girl Next Door<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Jack Ketchum</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-69150086690681547732018-07-03T15:03:00.002-07:002018-07-03T15:03:36.053-07:00UNLIFTED - simon john cox<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was Kenny who'd said the skull was cursed. We'd found it up on
Box Hill, inside a rotten tree, nested like an ostrich egg on a cushion of
shivered wood. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We told each other that it was a hanged man's skull, that a witch
had put it there, and we set it on a mossy stump and found deadwood swords and
spent the best summer of our lives pretending to be pirates. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You've got to put it back, he'd whispered eventually. There's no
curse, I said, but I agreed all the same. By then he'd been hollowed out by the
chemo and was as brittle as dead leaves, so he couldn't exactly take it back
himself. It seemed like the least I could do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Looking back, I can't say for sure whether or not there really was
a curse. But one thing I know for sure is that if there was, then putting the
skull back didn't lift it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Simon John Cox</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.simonjohncox.com%2C/"><span style="color: black;">www.simonjohncox.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Field Of The Cloth Of Gold</span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Magnus Mills</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-86552761693740705952018-07-03T14:52:00.003-07:002018-07-03T14:52:24.067-07:00PUNK SERENADE - valerie lute<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nobody is singing our song, and
she falls asleep with her head on the radio. She hums to herself, out of tune,
out of beat, but her hums say more than the voice from the speaker.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“I want you,” I say, like I've
said before, but she's off in dreamland, laying in my bed with her arms around
my radio. Happened again. The other guys say I should kick her away—if you're
not in her pussy get her out of her head. But I can't disturb her dreaming when
I'm dreaming too.</span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Though I'm on my chair, watching
her chest rise and fall, and listening to some bullshit on the radio, I can
feel the freckles of her skin, the flush of her cheeks. In my dreams she holds
her hands to my chest, slides them through my skin like water, and uncoils the
rope around my guts.</span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The noise on the radio goes from
bad to worse. I wonder if I can lower the sound, but her arms are locked tight,
her face glued to the speaker. If I wake her the dream will end. I’ll keep the
pain so I can stay. She's my radio girl, yeah.</span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Valerie Lute</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://valerielute.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: black;">Valerielute.blogspot.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Misery</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Stephen King</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-60389954782498149972018-07-03T14:50:00.005-07:002018-07-03T14:50:56.403-07:00NATURAL LIMITS - jeff nazzaro<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the fidgety, rustling empty of what we'd just done, I asked,
How old are you? She answered, Twenty-nine, and asked me back. I said,
Fifty-two, is that going to be a problem? I don't know why I spoke in the
future. She didn't say anything back. Was the problem my age or was it the
future? Neither or both? I didn't know if she was thinking about my question,
four other things, or just being polite. Or moody. I felt an ache in my balls,
a drip from my dick. So far, so good, right? I said. She laughed. And then she
said, You're funny. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It would mean giving up Beth and the house and all of it. Beth
never said I was funny. Even when I made her laugh. Her genuine laughter always
choked into mocking. Expressions of exasperation. That was a good one, I'd try.
You really chuckled. That would stop that. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It would mean even greater uncertainty. But there was this, the
ache, the drip, the laughs. There were pills and drink and high bridges.
Natural limits. There was the fact that these things are never easy, and never
fully in our hands.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Jeff Nazzaro</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://mail.yahoo.com/neo/b/compose?to=jeffnazzaro@gmail.com"><span style="color: black;">jeffnazzaro@gmail.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So You Don't Get Lost in the Neighborhood<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Patrick Modiano</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-74645945970004989982018-07-03T14:49:00.002-07:002018-07-03T14:49:21.640-07:00FREDDIE GRAY'S HAUNTS - christine stoddard<br />
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I am wearing the kind of practical skirt suit every
female social worker wears as she makes her rounds—gray, polyester, loose. My
hair is pomaded to my skull, combed as straight as it will go. There is no
color on my face, save for the purplish-gray bags under my eyes. If my binder
feels extra heavy today, it’s because I’m making calls in Sandtown, a pitiful
punch line in</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">The
Wire</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. My caseload is practically the whole zip code.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My co-worker, a new girl from the uppity part of
Towson, joked that I should wear sneakers so I could run. I think back to the
days when I ran drugs through these projects in my first pair of Jordans. Back
when I was responsible for whatever ripped out weave was blowing across the
sidewalk like a tumbleweed. My old posse would never recognize me now, with my
bleached skin and nude pantyhose.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I approach Presbury, I shiver. Did Freddie Gray’s
ghost just run through me?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Hey, white lady!” a dark-skinned boy of about 14 or
15 yells at my high yellow tail. I keep walking toward Gilmor Homes, wondering
if I’ll ever be black again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
<div class="yiv1748344661msonormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Christine Stoddard</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.worldofchristinestoddard.com/"><span style="color: black;">www.worldofchristinestoddard.com</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Teaching to Transgress</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">bell hooks</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-71710177681689838632017-02-11T07:18:00.003-08:002017-02-11T07:20:18.115-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrbm8oZrnIXMdGGXJ3mSJ49L8eZN5nzJfiYf-KhEha4II5JM02y1Glm4cBtalBUbccLJviZkM705ux80YxoahXPCvIbNhjYubT5raLg68u9yh95dGukspy5Zla5nAzpN0mEjlmjWoUhk/s1600/hill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrbm8oZrnIXMdGGXJ3mSJ49L8eZN5nzJfiYf-KhEha4II5JM02y1Glm4cBtalBUbccLJviZkM705ux80YxoahXPCvIbNhjYubT5raLg68u9yh95dGukspy5Zla5nAzpN0mEjlmjWoUhk/s400/hill.jpg" width="183" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2017/02/escape-velocity-todd-mercer.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ESCAPE VELOCITY</span></a></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Todd Mercer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2017/02/sherpa-jesse-bradley.html">SHERPA</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesse Bradley</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2017/02/eclipse-peter-jordan.html">ECLIPSE</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Peter Jordan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2017/02/my-brothers-drum-circle-tyler-beckett.html">MY BROTHER'S DRUM</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler Beckett</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2017/02/my-son-sheleen-mcelhinney.html">MY SON</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sheleen McElhinney</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2017/02/sonic-boom-robert-scotellaro.html">SONIC BOOM</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Robert Scotellaro</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b>
<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2017/02/my-best-friends-dad-committed-suicide-r.html">MY BEST FRIEND'S DAD COMMITTED SUICIDE</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">R. Riekke</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
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<b><br /></b>DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-47042171326398031022017-02-11T07:10:00.006-08:002017-02-11T07:10:47.889-08:00ESCAPE VELOCITY - todd mercer<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But worse is when the EMT can’t hear the patient trying to respond. I’m in here. Yes, I know what happened. The speech function is broken and the facial muscles are rigid. The medic tells the driver: Looks like this one coded. Between the reach for the zipper bag and the patient’s carefree evening, an extended moment of flight. The car’s stunt sequence, a wondrous suspension of regular gravity. A panoramic view of the whole valley, after the Shelby blasted through treetops, over the guardrail atop Lookout Hill. Except for the impact, the current dire paralysis, otherwise a peak experience.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Todd Mercer</span></b></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:todd.mercer@yahoo.com"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">todd.mercer@yahoo.com</span></a></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tenth of December</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">George Saunders</span></div>
DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-53414398590515219542017-02-11T07:09:00.002-08:002017-02-11T07:09:18.097-08:00SHERPA - jesse bradley<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You stand at the foot of Space Mountain, or as close to the foot of Space Mountain as this minute’s line will allow. When you were younger, your mother always stayed with you when your stepfather and half-brother made their ascent. She hated roller coasters but never explained why. You survived your childhood by selectively adopting her fears as you own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your ears perked up whenever the local news talked about a roller coaster accident, usually out of town. You wrote down where, when, and how in a spiral bound notebook. You wondered if your mother loved someone who was maimed or murdered by a roller coaster, maybe your father. You wanted to show her all of your notes and ask: was it one of these that did it to you?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You started giving up each fear you adopted once you were old enough for your mother to not care as much about you. After your first knifeful of peanut butter, you waited for your tongue to swell, your trachea to close. You couldn’t chew the aftertaste out of your tongue. You flinched less when the neighbor’s dog charged at you, the chain link fence saving you each time. You were surprised to still have all of your fingers after you finished petting him through the fence. Your mother hated when you were behind the wheel of your stepfather’s car. She screamed about how you were going too fast or too slow, how you could have killed everyone in the car by rolling through that STOP sign. You knew the slap to the back of your head was coming when you asked her to stop being a backseat driver.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You couldn’t shake the terror of roller coasters: the roller coaster crash that killed three in West Edmonton, the roller coaster malfunction at Six Flags Kentucky where a snapped cable severed a girl’s feet, the roller coaster in Sandusky, Ohio that killed a man while he was looking for his wallet and keys.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You stare at a future that someone else imagined: hopeful, bloodless.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesse Bradley</span></b></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://jbradleywrites.com/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">jbradleywrites.com</span></a></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Insurrection</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rion Amilcar Scott</span></div>
DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-19293869092961894872017-02-11T07:07:00.007-08:002017-02-11T07:07:43.972-08:00ECLIPSE - peter jordan<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m not sure what time of the day it is. I have no watch, no phone. From the length of the shadows cast by the people in the crowd I guess it’s early. All of the crowd, every single one, look up to the sky, cell phones raised, taking pictures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are seagulls flying about haphazardly. A security van has its hazards on. Things aren’t right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Curious, I walk across the street, navigating slow traffic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A girl in uniform smiles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An eclipse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A what?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Where have you been, she says. Mars?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As the moon moves slowly down over the sun, I look right at it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can’t look at it directly, she says. You have to put your hand over your eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I look at her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m only saying what it said on the radio!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I ignore her and continue looking directly at what is left of the sun.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I look away I see a trail of greens and reds and yellows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right now, she says. It looks like an engagement ring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She reminds me of someone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Suddenly, everything gets dark, cold.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is this supposed to happen? I ask.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Peter Jordan</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Twitter @pm_jordan</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Pugilist at Rest</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thom Jones</span></div>
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DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-82177475013242810992017-02-11T07:06:00.000-08:002017-02-11T07:06:02.290-08:00MY BROTHER'S DRUM CIRCLE - tyler beckett<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You drag me to the drum circle saying things like “this will change your life” with no mind of how stupid you sound. You take me to a park-turned-mosh pit, so far from quiet Peach City that the dancers who appear at dusk to fill the plaza could be from foreign planets. Pothead percussionists bang their pots, pans, park signs and sundry possessions while their shouted songs rattle my ears. People are topless, packed tight, bouncing and singing in a raucous ripple that we get lost in. You, the small-town refugee, the hick-turned-granola mountaineer, the hike guide who carries a tent for two just-in-case, you’re having fun. Each time a woman rocks to-and-fro or two bros reach overhead to pass a blunt, you get sucked further in, and these gaps between torso and arm, quick as eighth rests, are enough to let you enter. And I, despite shouldering hippies aside, despite saying, “sorry y’all, that’s my brother up ahead,” find myself repulsed, pushed to the edges, where tourists watch this ridiculous blowout and snap photos. And all I’m saying is, what the hell, you said we’d hang out.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tyler Beckett</span></b></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:tbeck015@odu.edu"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">tbeck015@odu.edu</span></a></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fox Tooth Heart</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John McManus</span></div>
DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-91039653623244905632017-02-11T07:03:00.006-08:002017-02-11T07:04:30.001-08:00MY SON - sheleen mcelhinney<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">His scalp smells gamey, like a cut of meat. I guess that's what my genes smell like mixed with his father’s—a sweating rack of lamb. I watch him at the table, gobbling down rabbit stew, his breathing heavy and labored as if he hasn’t been fed in days. He has an arm guarding his food against invisible predators. He looks like a stranger to me. The thick mop of dusty brown hair, the wide nose, the growling and grunting. I bring the rug outside, hang it over a tree and beat it with a branch, watch the dust particles swirl and float in the sun. My hands are dry and cracked; the hands of an old woman. When my boy was born, these hands were soft against his cheek, soft inside his curling locks of hair, but still he suckled on my breast like a ravenous wolf, always taking more than I could give. His father doesn't know what he is, but I do. I lie in the dirt and wait. I sing softly to myself as the moon rises high in the night sky. A coyote howls in the distance and I know I'll be out here all night, waiting for my son to come home and curl up in my skirt, weeping for all he's destroyed. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sheleen McElhinney</span></b></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://sheleenmcelhinney.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">sheleenmcelhinney.blogspot.com</span></a></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All The Light We Cannot See</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Anthony Doerr</span></div>
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DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-10713983824977608022017-02-11T07:01:00.003-08:002017-02-11T07:02:32.217-08:00SONIC BOOM - robert scotellaro<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"An airplane is like a blister on the heavens," he said, looking up. "Get a grip," she said. "This garden isn't going to plant itself." There were two saplings angled against the fence, a wheelbarrow filled with perennials. He picked the trowel up, plunged it into the soil. Some personalities were so large they dispersed another's language altogether, he thought. Left it to languor in the lungs. She handed him some bulbs. "How deep do you want these holes?" he asked. She demonstrated without speaking. And when she turned, he noticed her shadow fill an empty bucket to the brim.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Robert Scotellaro</span></b></div>
<div style="color: #080000; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">rsflashfiction.com</span></div>
<div style="color: #080000; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ways to Spend the Night</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pamela Painter</span></div>
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DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-85064562872277142832017-02-11T06:58:00.004-08:002017-02-11T06:59:39.352-08:00MY BEST FRIEND'S DAD COMMITTED SUICIDE - r. riekke<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">when we were in eighth grade. It’s the worst grade. It was the worst grade for me. This was the year of A View to a Kill. We were James Bond addicts. We wanted gadgets and girls. We wanted travel and boats. He didn’t go with me to see the film. The Octopussy days were over. The magic of stupidity gone. His dad hung himself in the basement, the laundry machine running, as if he was trying to fit in one last chore. It was the opposite of James Bond. I got older, got a job in the mines, the opposite of James Bond. He married a woman he hated, got divorced, and killed himself with a shotgun. He had a snake that got out of its cage. My mother wouldn’t tell me what happened with the snake and his corpse. It sounded very James Bond villain though. I wouldn’t write this, but I think he’d like that comparison, even if he was dead reading this.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">R. Riekki</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://changesevenmag.com/lhotses-of-sickness-by-r-riekki/">https://changesevenmag.com/lhotses-of-sickness-by-r-riekki/</a></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">God is Red: A Native View of Religion</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Vine Deloria Jr.</span></div>
DOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-69958422170876216262016-04-11T09:37:00.000-07:002016-04-11T09:37:30.822-07:00DOGZPLOT FLASH FICTION<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47qhBMVyQaT5P7unQTlOg38YZsJithksyT7PDcA0l1nVxoe-d6CmaE8sienm1-3BZqL9bIYDwdMn74WsFrbdcmB4zNmjmkWrbvIFP-wiPVVAuWUE9O1ZsluxGiO6aa2J73tqvyfrX8O0/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47qhBMVyQaT5P7unQTlOg38YZsJithksyT7PDcA0l1nVxoe-d6CmaE8sienm1-3BZqL9bIYDwdMn74WsFrbdcmB4zNmjmkWrbvIFP-wiPVVAuWUE9O1ZsluxGiO6aa2J73tqvyfrX8O0/s400/1.jpg" width="290" /></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2016/04/last-dance-tony-pena.html">LAST DANCE</a></b><br />
Tony Pena<br />
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<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2016/04/hurt-david-morris.html">HURT</a></b><br />
David Morris<br />
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<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2016/04/grumpy-cat-jack-nicholls.html">GRUMPY CAT</a></b><br />
Jack Nicholls<br />
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<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2016/04/some-sort-of-shining-howie-good.html">SOME SORT OF SHINING</a></b><br />
Howie Good<br />
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<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2016/04/i-agree-with-bukowski-jeffrey-zable.html">I AGREE WITH BUKOWSKI</a></b><br />
Jeffrey Zable<br />
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<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2016/04/newhart-tara-roeder.html">NEWHART</a></b><br />
Tara Roeder<br />
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<b><a href="http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2016/04/bus-station-doug-mathewson.html">BUS STATION</a></b><br />
Doug MathewsonDOGZPLOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04016869523700569767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5470298745112868655.post-32903043075625471052016-04-11T09:29:00.003-07:002016-04-11T09:29:57.856-07:00LAST DANCE - tony pena<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Definitely one of them disco sucks boys back in the seventies. Too many rules in them bass happy horas for this rock and roller so you'll excuse me for ignoring Donna Summer when my last dance card is punched and I kiss the spirit in the sky. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Though just shy of sixty I dropped in a dive featuring old school rock cover bands and glittering cobwebs figuring I'd lean against the wall with eyes closed and head bopping while swigging from a long neck Budweiser. A goth gal maybe two score my junior pulls me to the dance floor despite my protestations of being too fragile to frolic with bones rattling like broken glass in a box. Kids with cellphones circling like buzzards. By the bridge of "Get out of Denver," my lungs are burning and the lead mullet's measuring me for my burial suit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But the rush lingered like a lover's perfume. Funny how pushing that envelope with my saint's prayer on a Mass card makes me come alive and now it's fuck the marathon, I'm sprinting to the finish and Saint Peter can bury my bones wherever the hell he wants cause the music in me ain't dying.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tony Pena</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://youtube.com/tonypenapoetry"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Youtube.com/tonypenapoetry</span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Samaritan</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Richard Price</span></div>
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