A Dress with Pockets, or Mediterranean Vistas ~ creative nonfiction by Jacqueline Doyle

I was lost, hurrying down an endless corridor to find my classroom, clutching books and a folder of notes. I realized they were the wrong books, the wrong notes, and I was in the wrong building. Class was about to start. Could I make it in time? Could I wing it without notes? I was… Read More A Dress with Pockets, or Mediterranean Vistas ~ creative nonfiction by Jacqueline Doyle

“Quip Pro Quote” Meeting Format ~ meeting agenda by Charles March

Saturday-7pm Good evening! This is the regular meeting of the “Quip Pro Quote” group of Alcoholics Anonymous. “The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.” [Though we may suffer from “terminal hipness and fatal cool” (shout out to another fellowship)]. That was an unpretentious quote from pg.… Read More “Quip Pro Quote” Meeting Format ~ meeting agenda by Charles March

Griot ~ poetry by KJ Hannah Greenberg

Imbongi, praise singer, passions’ planter, ancestors’ defender, Reciter of penetrating poetry (divulging familial interactions), Reteller of histories, commentator on community affairs, she Dares pronounce the ineffable. During ceremonial activities, or else thru “important” episodes, Outrageous statements, critical rhetoric, and indelicate remarks, That gnarled woman remains protected by champions, dreaded, Revered as her revelations. Ancient wisdom… Read More Griot ~ poetry by KJ Hannah Greenberg

Two Ruminant Third Graders Discourse Upon the Falling Autumn Leaves ~ fiction by B Myers

Two Ruminant Third Graders Discourse Upon the Falling Autumn Leaves  Translated from the Third Grader Ed. note: The dialogues of Percysius and Kevinocrates present unique challenges to the translator. This version does not pretend to be definitive—only approachable. We have trimmed the glue paste and erased the pencil smudges while trying to keep core intent… Read More Two Ruminant Third Graders Discourse Upon the Falling Autumn Leaves ~ fiction by B Myers

[in]transpiring: a psychosomatic [re-]glitch[ing] ~ graphic poetry by Ami J. Sanghvi

[in]transpiring: a psychosomatic [re-]glitch[ing] Ami J. Sanghvi (he/they) is a non-binary, Indian-American, queer author, artist, designer, boxer, Eric Hoffer Book Award finalist, and recent graduate from the California Institute of the Arts Creative Writing M.F.A. program (concentration: image/text). He is a fiction editor for Decolonial Passage, poetry editor for Wrongdoing Magazine, staff writer for Chaotic Merge, and photographer for AsianZine, as… Read More [in]transpiring: a psychosomatic [re-]glitch[ing] ~ graphic poetry by Ami J. Sanghvi

But Who’s Counting? ~ fiction by Michael Cocchiarale

Author’s note: In each piece, the number of words matches the age of the protagonist at the time, i.e., the episode title.   Forty  In the beginning, there’d been many inklings of the end. Now, slumped upon the toilet seat, Alex is convinced his marriage is crap. Curses through the window. He stands, frowns at… Read More But Who’s Counting? ~ fiction by Michael Cocchiarale

The Place We Held Our Wedding is Now a Surf Shop ~ fiction by Jen McConnell

I’m not sentimental, but I don’t want to be erased. That’s why I motion the salesperson over to the table of folded green and yellow T-shirts. This is where we cut the cake, I explain. She narrows her eyes, trying, I can tell, to decide if I’m a well-dressed homeless weirdo or a Vicodin-addled suburbanite,… Read More The Place We Held Our Wedding is Now a Surf Shop ~ fiction by Jen McConnell

Thlok ~ poetry by James Croal Jackson

Thlok when drunk.Thlok for deer.Thlok for you to fail.Thlok when you can’t thlok.Thlok chips on the poker table. Thlok your name being called. Thlok falls down.Thlok shut up.Thlok talk about their children.Thlok hard work. Thlok jolt a finger. Thlok beer poured into a glass. Thlok guitar pedal. Thlok your partner. Thlok caw.Thlok you have no interest in. Thlok two packs a day. Thlok typing with mitts. Thlok silent manner.Thlok urinate. Thlok wind machine. Thlok monster. Thlok opinion without listening. Thlok fast asleep. Thlok two big sticks.  Thlok fish swims away. Thlok across the street.Thlok thawing snow in spring.Thlok thoughts during sex.Thlok man mansplaining thlok.… Read More Thlok ~ poetry by James Croal Jackson

Reddit: Am I the Asshole? ~ Reddit thread by Caity Scott

Caity Scott writes about diabolical joy, simple wonder and (whenever possible) dinosaurs. Her work has teeth and exists in liminal spaces between what we love, what we laugh at, and how it all breaks us. When she’s not listening to true crime podcasts, she’s pursuing an MFA in creative writing at Western Washington University. Her… Read More Reddit: Am I the Asshole? ~ Reddit thread by Caity Scott

Precedence ~ creative nonfiction by Kathryn Pratt Russell

There’s a place where my mind goes to attenuate. I can call it “Paris,” because that’s what exchange students call it when they’re traveling through its metro stations. They can get all the way out to the country and its terrifying rural confectioners, before they know they’ve left the city. I’ve seen them looking purposeful,… Read More Precedence ~ creative nonfiction by Kathryn Pratt Russell

The Fruitfulness of Communication’s Moral Component ~ poetry by KJ Hannah Greenberg

Nonideological dialect contains dreams, habits, intuition, moreoverThe construction of private/public meaning; few nonexperts embrace Make-believe’s robustness derived from lexes’ haunting resonances. Consequently, meditation of integrity’s assembly arguments intimate  Human interactions in the categorizing of heuristics, gets sacrificedWhile reifying virtuous agreement arrays, equally apples’ acridness. Popular, western epistemic fact/value divisions, suggest exclusivity Versus aesthetics/ techniques, not disparate from conflict literature,(Can’t always contribute solutions or patch up spider-free bananas.) Compared with nontraditional ingredients, forms… Read More The Fruitfulness of Communication’s Moral Component ~ poetry by KJ Hannah Greenberg

Three poems ~ poetry by Frank William Finney

Skimming Sideways When you reach that magic agewhen no player picks the magnesium trickfrom your sandwich, you’re wont toexhale red notches, the kind mountaingoats rejuvenate when they wash up inForge Village.  Disgruntled cherry pickers, notwithstanding,if you have never smoked a dobro guitar, ordwelt in the doldrums of twin religions,Go ahead and cancel your contract, they’ll… Read More Three poems ~ poetry by Frank William Finney

The History of Amaritudinem, Pennsylvania ~ fiction by John Lane

Dear reader of this fine publication, The following was rubbed from a sheet of 1960s-era carbon paper found in a shoebox hidden under a floorboard in Pennsylvania State Museum’s Delaware Room. Research indicates that Noah Brewster, chief historian of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, during the 1960s, was about to discover the location of Amaritudinem, Pennsylvania, before… Read More The History of Amaritudinem, Pennsylvania ~ fiction by John Lane

Look for The Disappointed Housewife in the 2021 Best Small Fictions Anthology!

The Disappointed Housewife is pleased (and proud) to announce that Kirsty McGrory’s flash fiction, “The Apparitions,” has been selected to appear in the 2021 Best Small Fictions Anthology, published by The Sonder Press. Read Kirsty’s excellent story, published last May. And here’s her bio: “Kirsty McGrory is a writer from Edinburgh, Scotland. Her writing has… Read More Look for The Disappointed Housewife in the 2021 Best Small Fictions Anthology!