Origami of bark and shadow, I stepped on you barefoot at my fourth birthday party. While other kids pinned the tail on the donkey, I teetered on the edge of the kitchen counter as my father plucked thorns from soft flesh. This was decades before his death but only weeks before he left. I did […]
Erin Murphy
Erin Murphy’s recent work has appeared in Ecotone, Anti-Heroin Chic, Flash Boulevard, The Best of Brevity, Best Microfiction 2024, and anthologies from Random House, Bloomsbury, Bedford/St. Martin’s, and Best of the Net. She is author or editor of more than a dozen books, most recently Human Resources (2025). She is professor of English at Penn State Altoona and poetry editor of The Summerset Review. Website: www.erin-murphy.com