Portrait - page 1 - all works

Short Fiction

Portrait 5 min

Crookedness

One of the first things my mom did after we found out that I'd gotten in was search online for a winter coat for me. She saved money and bought me a beautiful Cabela's coat. It was full-length with a ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait 5 min

Quicksand Street

M. Morton

We call it Quicksand Street, despite what the road signs say. Where the sidewalks should be, two long columns of dirt reside, that kick up dust in the summertime. In the spring, when the rain really ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Slice of Life 3 min

Liturgy of Light

Robin Blasberg

A cornucopia of color. A litany of light. That's what I could count on come December. It had even spiraled into a competition amongst my neighbors, each house trying to one-up the next. But as far as ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait 2 min Mature Audience

The Sweetest Stench

Kevin Brown

My father died of heart failure the same Chinese New Year girls began to draw my eye over my ire. I wasn't present for his death but figured us square since he wasn't present for my life.
Though ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait 4 min

Cutouts

Marcie Roman

My mother started cutting when I was nine. On Sunday afternoons, she'd sit at the kitchen table arranging coupons into what looked like a coupon-themed game of Solitaire. She'd tuck a few under he ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait 5 min

Evaporation

Lucy Zhang

Last performance review cycle, I got a "barely meets expectations"—something I could've avoided if I slept with my VP, but I liked to believe I had an unshakeable moral ground. I wouldn't be too sad ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Love & Loss 4 min Mature Audience

Pinecone

Katherine Davis

The sisters had walked these trails many times when they were little. But this time, the older sister was walking with her boyfriend. The younger sister stayed in front, pretending not to be bothered ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Suspense & Mystery 1 min

The Sweet Striper

Rolli .

The children don't understand.

The sweets they pine for are not squeezed from the machine with stripes intact. No—they must be painted on, by hand, with so much care. It is almost unimaginable, the ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Slice of Life 4 min

Knox

Jason Schwartzman

Knox had been hanging around 8th street since before they put in the ATMs. We didn't know where he lived, but that's where he'd been ever since I'd moved here about ten years ago. He used a cracked ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Slice of Life 4 min

Counting on the Waves

Tighe Flatley

He didn't see the woman standing next to him until her face, white and round as the moon, was peering into the car. Her gray hair, long and thin, danced in the wind.
Her hand moved in circles ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Slice of Life Love & Loss 5 min Mature Audience

Birds, Circling, Everywhere

Matthew Hose

Tomorrow will mark a year since I had my stroke. It's an occasion that, according to my daughter, Ginny, I should view as important. But I've spent enough time staring at death; I don't want to think ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Nostalgia Love & Loss 4 min Mature Audience

My Horse of a Different Color

FC Pierce

It was the summer of '82, my first year at Saint Vincent's. I'd just arrived in the city, a newly minted nurse from the Midwest, and taken an apartment on Perry Street with three other nurses. He was ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Slice of Life 4 min Mature Audience

Wildfire

Patrick Kuklinski

We weren't quite yet old enough for a high school reunion, and not quite close enough to become Facebook friends or follow each other on Twitter. And yet, here we were. Jack had been one of my best ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Slice of Life 1 min

The Identification of Bears

Betsy Cornelius

"Do you like Sunshine Bear?"

Becca scowls down at her white shirt emblazoned with a smiling bear—at the long, bony finger inches away from her skinny chest.

"It's Funshine Bear," she says. She ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Love & Loss 2 min

Masks

Hugh J. O'Donnell

The day after the election, he carved a mask.
The day after that, he carved another.
It had never been more than a hobby; a craft passed down to him by his grandfather, who carved and painted all ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait 2 min Mature Audience

The Guerrillas' Rucksacks

Donna Lee Miele

Within a few weeks of her escape, the girl outgrew her only dress and had nothing to wear. Trying not to make a fuss, I gave her something of mine. She thanked me. She looked so ashamed. That she, a ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Nostalgia Magical Realism 4 min

The Story Tree

Rachel Dievendorf

When I was a kid, I was very nervous about what I would be when I grew up. It honestly consumed me. I was constantly trying new things so I could see what felt right. At seven years old, I begged my ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Slice of Life 3 min

Four-Leaf Clover

Peter Wallace

The four-leaf clover should not have been there, caught in Esteban's hair. It was a surprise there was any clover at all. The cows had already been through twice that week, pulling at the remnants of ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Slice of Life 3 min

Channel Five

Nathan Alling Long

"Are you scared?" I ask Dad over the phone.
"What do I have to be scared about?" he says. "We're locked in our rooms."
He's always been tough like that, stoic, but I wish I could see his face, hug ... [+]

Short Fiction

Portrait Slice of Life Nostalgia 2 min

Couch

Jared Levy

My dad came home from work and sat on the black leather couch in the living room. He always sat in the same spot. He always looked tired. Every night went the same: first work, then couch until the ... [+]