A New Kind of Literary Pulse

Everyone had a metal arm this month.   A renowned musician severed their non-dominant arm in favor of sleek platinum, and suddenly everywhere, people rushed to get one of their own. Even her friends ...  [+]

When Josie Rivers told her husband Rob that she would leave him if he ever gambled again, she meant it. This was after the intervention, after Rob had surreptitiously drained their bank account ...  [+]

Being a woman in her thirties with nothing to spend her winter break aside from chores, really does get exhausting. Sometimes when the boredom gets the best of me, I look into Rosy's life. Rosy has ...  [+]

His mother was his hero. Sometimes he hated her for that.   In the mirror, his father's face–high cheeks, raptor nose, hazel eyes–but the rhythm of his life's music was his mother's heartbeat.   He'd ...  [+]

Someone once asked me what I'd show an alien if I ever met one.
I said I'd show them my harmonica and play some real good music.
Although, maybe they already have their own version of it.
I can't ...  [+]

The sea battered itself against the base of a tower, starved and hungry. The setting sun glittered on its back, burning orange streaking across the dark water. A lonely seabird wheeled through the ...  [+]

In the darkest hour of the night, when the silence was louder than every whisper, he was still there. At his desk, waiting for words to come out. Everyone asleep, only he was left. Searching ...  [+]

They sat there in that dimly lit room, on the ratty quilt that covered the rickety wooden bed. The air was cold. A thin breeze slipped through the cracked window, carrying the sharp, salty breath of ...  [+]

The deadline is in a few hours. My heart has been racing every time I remember that I need to decide which draft to submit. I have pushed the responsibility of making the decision for a week, but I ...  [+]

I had seen him before. I never expected anything to happen. We were from different crowds. We hung out with different people. Sure, I knew some of his friends, but not well enough to get close to ...  [+]

You never know when the last goodbye is. We think we have forever until suddenly we don't. We enter with purpose and leave with only memory. I wish I had seen the battle he was fighting before it ...  [+]

The kitchen looks just like I remember it. Green walls peeling in all the right places, battered wood floors. And the sagging cabinets, painted white, with their doors that never quite close right. ...  [+]

My mom is not the best at cooking. Since I have memory, she always does the same breakfast and dinner. Lunch is when she gets creative: chicken with bacon, zucchini with some sort of sauce and ham ...  [+]

I always thought witches were fond of cats, but it turns out that becoming a witch requires you to kill one. Please — let me rewrite the folklore.   My family got Sergeant when I was fourteen, a ...  [+]

The opportunity to drop out is ever-present. Nobody could truly stop me at the end of the day. I could do it whenever I see fit.   Or I could transfer. I've had the transfer application open fo ...  [+]

"All my love, all my heart goes to you. Give me the chance to care for you. Let me love you. Let me show you all of me and be the best person I can be for you." At 18, I didn't know any better. At ...  [+]

Where did the time go? Remember when your brother threw that football and I caught it with my face? I don't think I can take that kind of pressure anymore, smiling while crying and apologizing fo ...  [+]

"You're useless Kathrine, you couldn't even clean the house correctly" my mom yells at me. I want to shrink until there is nothing left of me. 
 "Go to your room. I don't want to see you until ...  [+]