Category Archives: Michelle Elvy

. This photo was taken in June 2006 in Juneau, Alaska. It rained constantly while we were there but there was something about the life and the light that captivated us. We traveled through Southeast Alaska that whole season and … Continue reading →

I used to be a juggler. Got pretty good, too. Started out small, used three beanies my flatmate Stefan gave me. Stefan was a lively juggler, could use anything at hand. I once watched him take a salt shaker, a … Continue reading →

Jane bought Jerry a new phone for his birthday because he didn’t want to share any more. They had shared everything in their life together, and she really didn’t need her own phone, but when he said sharing had turned … Continue reading →

Twila was an ornery thing. No one liked her though she’d lived in our neighborhood forever. They said she was crazy, possessed even. We believed it — her wild orange hair and wandering eye were enough to make us know … Continue reading →

“Nothing happens at sea,” he had told her, and for the most part he was right. Mile after mile is the same: the blue sea-sky-scape he’d always known, the slow undulation of ocean swell, the maddening froth and staccato rhythm … Continue reading →

When Jackie and Jim first rolled round in the sack, they were teens, mere beginners. All limbs and movement, no tact or grace. It didn’t matter, of course: enthusiasm and energy made up for lack of finesse. One night Jackie … Continue reading →

When Henry Watson’s 1980 Buick LeSabre skidded off the road, he expected to see his life pass before his eyes. They say that happens, the whole birth-to-this-minute flash. Instead, he saw only parts of it, some parts he’d never seen … Continue reading →

Running up a hill tripping upwards falling downwards making deals with the devil or God — whichever works better Radio’s on Bush is burning I turn it up and feel me yearning for your devil grin and thunder heart or … Continue reading →

“I thought you don’t smoke,” he said, taking in her sunbleached hair, the scar through her left eyebrow, her slightly crooked nose. Surprised at the rush of feeling he felt as he formed her name in his mouth: Mo. They … Continue reading →

for Rob Rich and Sarah got married. Everyone came. The prying aunt from Philly, the slobbery uncle from Sicily. The cousin with weepy eyes, the cousin-twice-removed who smells like mothballs. The guest-list decision came one night over bubble bath and … Continue reading →

When Great-Grandpa Harold told me that eating the whole apple to the core and even past it, seeds and all, would make me live forever, I believed him. He was living proof, after all. He died at 101 when I … Continue reading →

You saw me and I saw you and we smiled but we said nothing because we weren’t supposed to see anything at all I loved you and you loved me and we fucked but we said nothing because we weren’t … Continue reading →

She looked at the board in front of her, the words criss-crossing in impossibly neat rows, the red triple-word square waiting for the letters which would win the game. It had come down to this, the score so close that … Continue reading →

Pop had the idea when I was around seven to sell bottled water. Everyone laughed at him, said he was nuts. Which was true, mostly. He usually had one idea on the go, another in his back pocket. We were … Continue reading →

Voices call me out of sleep groggy, curious, I creep toward the kitchen, where the drinks are mixin’ This ain’t my scene, but I think I’ll stay, like this song, won’t you come out to play… You, Cheshire-grin, know-it-all: d’you … Continue reading →

you’ll be gone forever and a day naw. just three oceans. once around the world you’ll meet mermaids and sirens yes. but my journey ends here, with you you’ll forget i’ll see you in the sea how do you know? … Continue reading →

David Charles Terrence Saunders, DDS, stared into his blurry whisky glass and wondered just how he was going to get home. It had been Brad’s idea to come to The Mermaid Bar, though Dave had thought his strip bar days … Continue reading →

Partied with Walt under his backyard breadfruit tree John cut del, cadaver labia met mopey Leonard smelling of dollar store shampoo glycerine temporality, delicate and plastic a fictitious Mount Richard caramel puddings sticky with salt >caramel pbalanced on a blue-balled … Continue reading →

I keep you here behind the wild green of my eyes in the sticky black of my lashes under the chewed pink of my nails in the dry back of my throat behind the bitter red of my tongue And … Continue reading →

Beveridge Reef, 20º00S 167º47′W by Michelle Elvy 52|250 thanks Michelle Elvy for the art this week.   Return to This Week’s Flash

Helen slept in dreams of gold. Everything exploding, which was not frightening at all. The explosions were beautiful, wondrous, and left her feeling calm and light. House-job-commute: kapow! Broke-down car: kapow! Snotty sister: kapow! Cheating husband: kapow! She lined up … Continue reading →

(for Kirk) It is quieter than quiet. A seabird lands on deck, squawks his lonely squawk. It’s his hello but the woman shoos him, tells him to go. She wants to be alone with the toenail moon and the shadows … Continue reading →

 Charlie Hancock missed the bus. Started walking. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Charlie Hancock boarded the bus, sat in a seat in the back, the  same seat he always chose. He didn’t stop anywhere or talk to anyone, just kept walking. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa He … Continue reading →

‘Come on down,’ she said and he did. Hopped right on a plane after a two-month romance which began online. The electricity pulled him right round the globe, from the safety of the frozen north to the uncharted waters of … Continue reading →

Here, you say, take it even as the wind whirls it away I clench my fingers closed roll the dandelion in and hold you here forever Mama, you say I open my fingers roll them out aaaaaaaaatoward you and we … Continue reading →

(or: Twelve things I’m gonna do before I’m thirty, not necessarily in this order, but probably all in one week, since I turn thirty next Thursday) 1. Go to Stef’s Subshop and order a foot-long kielbasa with kraut and mustard … Continue reading →

“Dites moi ce que vous en pensez,” said the old woman. “Tell me what you think.” The girl had been gazing at the canvas, an astonishing explosion of color amidst a grey background of tattered cardboard and greasy clothing and … Continue reading →

This is a story about a skinny girl named Penny. We climbed the monkey bars after school because my dad was usually late to pick me up and her parents arrived even later than my dad. So even if we … Continue reading →

“It’s time to move the chair,” said Grandma matter-of-factly. I knew what she meant: time to put the old green easy-chair on the curb, the one with the saggy seat and fraying arms, the one which smelled of oil and … Continue reading →

. –They don’t have tombstones. -Why not? -Because we didn’t bury them. -Why not? -Because they returned to sky and water and earth, in that order. I watch my mother and my daughter, each wondering in her own quiet way … Continue reading →

You call up and say you’re sorry and I know you are ’cause I am too but I’ve rehearsed this in my head a hundred times, how I’ll tell you that it won’t work, that our tempers are too alike, … Continue reading →

I was surprised when Carrie called. We hadn’t seen each other in years. We’d been high-school friends, sure — the kind you don’t expect to see again after you’ve been  pomp-and-circumstanced down the school stadium steps and the last D-Major … Continue reading →

Close your eyes and you can see it all, she said. She took my hand in hers: warm, dry, sure. She led my fingers up her arm, around her elbow. My body’s a landscape, she said. Landscape indeed. She laid … Continue reading →

1. Salad Oh no: onions. I despise raw onions. I wonder why she’s not eating her salad. 2. Soup The soup’s a little salty – but I like salty. He looks salty, too. Delicious. I wonder if she appreciates the … Continue reading →

The last time Emily wore her hair down was fifteen years back. But this was a celebration. Hairpins lay scattered on her dressing table, the tight dark twist finally released. She went downstairs. “You look good,” said a friend, tucking … Continue reading →

1: You… 2: …and me. 3: You want to…? 4: Cool night, hot hope. 5: Pour me another, keep talking. 6: 4am. Still here. Electric fingertips touch. 7: Your voice makes music between the sheets. 8: Dawn dapples your shoulder; … Continue reading →

Jersey (not Jozefow), 2010 (not 1942) When asked why he did it, the boy averts his eyes, fidgets. He does not lie, but he cannot face the truth. His lip trembles and he shakes when shown the photos. When asked … Continue reading →

There’s a hush in the air. Frost glows and mist whispers. A silver sheen covers the cool earth: a hovering blanket on a slumbering world. I stand in a peaceful meadow – before me stretches an Asian painting on canvas, … Continue reading →

One grey day the earth decided to sleep. The mighty mountains shrugged their rounded shoulders and sighed a great necessary sigh. The wide seas sucked their liquid breath in and out in deep soothing swells. The earth turned inward. Oil … Continue reading →

On my way to work this morning, I saw two cows fucking – OK, I guess it was a cow and a bull. They were right on the side of the road, no kidding. Not down in the pasture, or … Continue reading →

Dear Story; Where are you? I’ve been looking for nearly five days now. I know you are here somewhere. Perhaps you are under the chair, with the sticky Cheerios and breakfast crumbs. Or maybe you are outside, breathing in fresh … Continue reading →

When the new girl Mary showed up in geography class, Ted felt his throat go dry. When she sat in the wooden chair next to him, cold sweat crept down his spine. And when she led him to the creek … Continue reading →

The fact that my dad moved out did not surprise me. It had been coming a long time. I had expected it, even wanted it. What surprised me was the scene I found when I came home from soccer practice … Continue reading →

The date began badly. First, she turned up her nose at my suggestion of sushi: “Ew! I want real food!” So we found ourselves at a picnic table eating hamburgers and fries, hers dipped in a large pile of blubbery … Continue reading →

Let me tell you, child, the story of how your father became your father. Not the story of how his sperm crashed into my egg, how mad passion made a sweet sticky union that turned two into one and then … Continue reading →

When we turned 50, my twin sister and I inherited money from an uncle. It was a modest amount, enough for me to enroll in a night course at the local college and to buy a new pair of glasses, … Continue reading →

He brings the spoonful of Quaker Oats to his lips; his hand trembles but the oats stick to the spoon. His mind quivers and nothing sticks. A woman smiles up at him from a photo on the front page of … Continue reading →

for Jana They say you are OK, but how am I to know, really? You were taken – taken – so fast, I had no say, and I’m left with nothing but your sudden silence, not the hot cry I … Continue reading →

Fun comes in large doses round here. Babies swing on tire swings, boys climb on wrecked hulls, girls fish with hermit crabs. Your North Carolina towhead is right at home among the island kids. She glances up at you from … Continue reading →

You usually don’t look past the sunshine face, moon mouth and neatly plaited hair. You usually don’t look past the pastel Polly Flinders dress, turned down bobbi-socks, and black patent-leather shoes. You usually don’t look. And if you don’t look, … Continue reading →

for Werner Once upon a time there was a man who loved trains. He rode a train to work. He vacationed in old-timey steam engines, took his family on countryside train-rides. He dreamed about trains that lit up all corners … Continue reading →