Your mother and brother don’t know what to do with your sugars. On a summer’s evening, the air heavy with your loss, they bring them to me in a box. Icing sugar in a Tupperware, as if you’d packed …

by James Montgomery HE’S SWEPT AWAY SUDDENLY. After a one-hour car journey became four. After two emergency toilet stops for their three- and six-year-olds, plus one more to refuel with bags of gia…

I’m at war with the wild boars. They invade in packs in the middle of the night, tearing up lawns, biting through fences—teeth scraping wood.

I’m at war with the wild boars. They invade in packs in the middle of the night, tearing up lawns, biting through fences—teeth scraping wood.

The children stand outside, eyes upward, buckets out. Waiting for another gift from the sky. Last week it was tulips. The week before—baby teeth. Continue reading…

The Department of Marriage and Family has started adding fine print to wedding licenses. I’m leaving nothing to chance.  My veil sits on the...

Temple in a City literary journal of flash fiction, poetry, art and letters

“Fine weather we’re having today,” Bart said as he joined the captain at the rail of the quarterdeck. The golden light of evening softened the lines of their rough-hewn faces. “Should be another fair ...

by Rachel M. Hollis I’d never believed in ghosts, at least not the translucent, floating kind. But there he was on a Tuesday morning, folding my shirts in the laundry room. The instant he saw me, h…

By Rachel M. Hollis My therapist says I apologize too much so I promised to track it: Left the oven on while I ran to the store (forgot the shallots) Bumped a stranger’s arm (he reached across me) …

“Ben Stiller’s Friend Flipped Me Off at a Restaurant in New York City” is quite a long title for a rather short story. A microfiction, in fact. In 140 words, Rachel M. Hollis tells the immersive ta…