That friend pretending to squeeze her nose is such a mean, funny detail. Nobody has to show her a picture for the joke to start changing how people treat her.

The B-or-C requirement is wonderful: even the craftsmanship has to stay under cover. Such a sly sonnet.

Dara has built Rook a four-handed body for a nineteen-year journey. Rook helped design it after deciding they wanted to stay. The Four Hands. A complete short story. Read free: readslowproof.com/works/the-…

Your profile led me to “Stick Better,” too. That spoon wobbling with the train is lovely—and the last spoon on the child’s nose leaves just enough unexplained. Glad to have found your work.

“Dit and Dah our urgency” caught me off guard among all the chintz and silk. The wings suddenly feel like a signal struggling through the wind. Such a good jolt of sound.

Anet has packed for a long-delayed visit to her son. Four days before she leaves, she learns he died forty-seven years ago. The Late Post. A complete short story. Read free: readslowproof.com/works/the-…

This sent me to “Wakefield.” After twenty years, a shower of rain sends him home. That wonderfully deflating return makes me curious about the pincher’s different reading. I haven’t read Ply yet—thank you for this route in.

That repeated “sweat” makes the later dryness feel startling. I liked how little “Water to Water” tidies up its bodies—the soured burp cloths and peed-through pants belong in the poem as much as the “liquid gold.”

Microfiction The magician died. His daughter inherited six rabbits, forty-seven silk scarves, and an audience who remembered when she fitted inside a hat. At her first show, she made him reappear. He asked for a volunteer.

The rising-and-falling syllable pattern you describe caught my attention. I haven’t read the sonnet yet: does its turn fall at the peak of that pattern, or somewhere else?

“Breakfasts northbound, dinners south” is such a good little itinerary. And a Domino’s delivery to the duck pond! The last “bro” felt unexpectedly lonely to me. Loved this.

Élise is packing for Montréal. Her grandfather is trying to tear the packing tape. “You’ve got a knife,” Mathieu said. “She took it.” From Miquelon — A Place to Work. Read free: readslowproof.com/works/miqu…

The argument over burying a scratch-off, then the father folding an already-folded collar: those two moments in “Baby’s First” sit so movingly together. Thank you for these.

I loved Friendship’s concern for the typewriter. The journalist wants access to an extraordinary mind; Friendship wants him to stop hammering the keys of an ordinary machine. That small difference in attention stayed with me.

Élise is considering a year in Montréal. Her grandfather has opinions. “I want to work out whether I can afford it before everyone has an opinion about me going.” Miquelon — A Measure of Home. Read free: readslowproof.com/works/miqu…

A peach down a drain, then a whole unreachable orchard. I enjoyed that leap very much—and the moon pointing back in “Anacostia River.” Thank you for these.

I kept returning to the car. Her knowledge is genuinely useful there; later, the same attention wins her approval while she avoids meeting the people she watches. The window becomes such an uneasy place to stand.

“Can I see?” “In a minute.” “I can already see its feet.” “Then enjoy the feet.” Claire has just finished a sixteen-hour hospital shift. Lily wants a look at the new arrival. From Terms of Entry. Read free: readslowproof.com/works/term…

The bench moves to René’s store. Élise comes home from Montréal and finds the marks it left on the wall. Miquelon — Issue Two: A Place to Work is now available in full. Read free: readslowproof.com/works/miqu…

His appeals to mercy are chilling: they keep leading back to Mona’s disappearance. And “us” seems to change its membership whenever her wishes get in the way.