“Little Willie rhymes are light verses including an indifferent or cheerfully inappropriate response to a gruesome act of violence in a quatrain form attributed to Harry Graham (1874–1936). The earliest was included among the Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes published in 1898 under Graham’s pen name Col. D. …

Sometimes I get confused. I think for a brief fillip of consciousness that living in the 21st century means I am living in the year 2123 rather than 2023. My math crayon slips. I swallow some clear-headed saliva then and say, “Oh what is the difference, really?” A century is…

An old man was enjoying a hot cup of coffee while watching the Grand Guignol of the morning news. When his phone buzzed, he turned too hastily and knocked his cup to the kitchen floor where it shattered. He knew he would seem senile to himself if he wept over…

1880 Panama Canal begins, possibly with a spoon as a joke. U.S. National Croquet League organizes in Philadelphia. (Philly croquet fans are rabid to this day.) First town to have its eyes all aglow with electric lighting is Wabash, Indiana. (And they’re still inventing the future there, today.) Édouard Manet…

He sits quietly at work, seemingly minding his own business in a cubicle covered with neutral-grey fabric. He may kill dozens of people this week or he may take his family to Disneyworld. He may finally ask forgiveness of a priest or family demon or a character in a book he is reading. His only friend. He may…

People are making furniture merely by sitting on rocks. The first furniture, moon-like, is pocked and cratered like the years themselves. Then the people are busy shaping bits of trees into legs and backs. Let us sit stiffly as our minds. We’ll stare at each other from various thrones and see what…

Jim Kacian publishes so many readworthy books. Probably few people outside the ELH (English language haiku) circuits of publishing realize some of the most interesting experimental writing these days is being done in haiku and related shorter forms. Some of my favorite magazines fall under that (concentrically expanding) genre. …

Darene heard a mewling in the cold night and figured it was a cat at her door begging for scraps. But when she opened the door a crack, it was a swaddled babe in a basket left there for her. She took it in. For these were hard times and…

A house was flirting with another house. It did everything to get its attention: change its curtains religiously, manicure its lawn to perfection, place atop its head like a tiara a turning copper weathervane that featured nearly-mating deer that squeaked its interest every time the wind blew… But the other…