after Portrait of Antonieta Rivas Mercado, by Francisco Romano Guillemín (Mexico) 1917 Outside the cathedral, watching the faithful and passersby, the woman sits alone. And hasn’t it always been this way? She is not a stranger in Paris, but not one friend has called on her since her arrival. Of course not: her family’s money […]
Lorette C. Luzajic
Lorette C. Luzajic is addicted to flash, often inspired by visual art. Her work has been widely nominated, anthologized, taught in writing courses from Tennessee to Egypt, and translated into Urdu, Arabic, and Spanish. Her most recent book is Disgust (Cyberwit Books, 2025), a collection of ekphrastic stories on the theme of illness, written during recovery from breast cancer and a botched leg surgery. Two of her stories have been selected for Best Small Fictions anthologies, and she has a story forthcoming in Best Microfiction 2026.
Night Swimming
after Gertrude Abercrombie A bottle to the sea, a ladder to the sky. Those slim rungs won’t hold you, that sliver of moon will slice in two the hand it hooks. You can swim with the gulls and hide from the owls, you can tell all of your stories to the pale cat who follows. […]