Blog Archives

Pepperoni Logic by Christy Hemmingway

25/9/2026

Prompt: slow steady breaths

I hand the pepperoni stick to my daughter, and she dissolves into a fit of tears. “It’s cold,” she cries, big crocodile drops of saltwater roll down her cheeks on command, saliva pooling in the corners of her lips.

“Of course it’s cold; it came out of the fridge.” But even as I say it, I know the logic of the situation doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that every time she goes into the fridge to pull out a pepperoni stick—which is more often than I’d like, nitrates and all that—it is a cold stick of meat.

Yesterday she was upset that the bathtub was wet.

2 Comments

The Wrong Plant Store by Tayla Mapatac

10/9/2026

0 Comments

1st Prize Winner, Writes of Summer - Drabble Edition; Prompt: Wrong Answers Only

The plant shop had one employee and one rule: WRONG ANSWERS ONLY
“Is this monstera easy?” I asked.
“Absolutely. Loves sunlight. Water daily.”
The plant hissed at me.
“Does it have pests?”
“Never.”
Something with fur waved from a leaf.
I pointed to a black velvet anthurium. “And this one?”
“Totally normal.”
Its leaves started moving toward me.
“Why’s it doing that?”
“Photosynthesis.”
“Why does it have teeth?”

0 Comments

Until Only Blue Remained by Ting-Fai Yu

10/9/2026

0 Comments

2nd Prize Winner, Writes of Summer - Drabble Edition; Prompt: Wrong Answers Only

At school, Mrs. Williams asked everyone to draw their country.

Yousef drew a river and a sea, with an olive tree between them.
“Wrong,” she said. “This isn’t on our map.”
So he erased the tree until only blue remained.
“Correct.”

Wing-ho drew a sea of yellow umbrellas beneath a wall of skyscrapers.
“Wrong,” she said. “This isn’t a country.”
So he drew a big red flag over the umbrellas.
“Much better.”

0 Comments

Vulture Culture by Samantha Krewulak

10/9/2026

0 Comments

3rd Prize Winner, Writes of Summer - Drabble Edition; Prompt: Wrong Answers Only

What kind of hats do deer wear?

The skulls of men:

Bleached clean in the sun, scraped smooth on the rocks,

Insides scooped out with a meticulous deer hoof.

The gooey contents deposited into the river to feed the fish, to give back to the earth.

Once cleaned, the skull gets cracked and broken into shape to fit snugly over their soft ears.

0 Comments

Pepperoni Logic by Christy Hemmingway

The Wrong Plant Store by Tayla Mapatac

Until Only Blue Remained by Ting-Fai Yu

Vulture Culture by Samantha Krewulak

Many voices

Past Winners