Trouble November 2025
A General Rule by Jennifer Lai
A General Ruleby Jennifer LaiAs a general rule, Larry never spied on his neighbor Mary. But when the same red Mustang from three Tuesdays prior roared into her driveway that evening, again, an exception was made. He killed the lights and peered through a raised blind...
Knock by Lyndsay Lomax
Knockby Lyndsay LomaxTrouble knocked softly at midnight. I tried to ignore it, the door opened wide, the hinges sighed. It wasn’t a monster – just a shadow figure with my smile, holding out its hand. “Come,” it whispered. “We’ll make life interesting.” I almost...
Long Drive Through the Woods by Dolo Diaz
Long Drive Through the Woodsby Dolo DiazI picked you up Sunday morning, only five days after it happened. We hugged, gently swaying for a long time. You were busy with things, bags to carry, directions to follow, schedules to meet. You had been hijacked by your mind,...
Moral Orders by Judith Shapiro
Moral Ordersby Judith ShapiroYou believed in a moral order. In a world where kindness prevailed, overshadowing all the rest. You didn’t fire the waiter who sold pounds of fresh shrimp from the walk-in through the back door of the restaurant, an hour later stood in the...
Non, je ne regrette rien by James Norcliffe
Non, je ne regrette rienby James NorcliffeShe wanted to make sparrow song the soundtrack of her life. Her way back was ever thwarted by burnt bridges but she was determined to make a virtue of this. She decided to set fire to her photographs, built a bonfire under...
Product Warning by Brad Rose
Product Warningby Brad RoseDo not use this product as a toy, pillow, or flotation device. Remove child before folding. Do not look into laser with remaining eye. Do not use while sleeping: doing so may cause injury or death. Once used rectally, should not be used...
The Lonely Wind by Erin Jamieson
The Lonely Windby Erin JamiesonThe ice was breaking & people from my past were screaming for me to leave but all I could do was memorize their faces one by one, and all I noticed was how utterly beautiful they all were. The sun was blinding as the wind howled...
The Navigator by Jim Eigo
The Navigatorby Jim EigoOnce I owned a boat. I was a very young man at the time, the vessel already weathered. A wayward uncle had bought the small boat secondhand. When he told us it was a pleasure craft, he orally caressed his words. He was not much past young...
The One I Loved by Nathan DeBar
The One I Lovedby Nathan DeBarTrouble wore red boots in the Summer and always left her laces in the mud. She hummed forgotten songs taught to her by ghosts. She called me darling in the tone you use before letting go of wrinkled relatives’ hands in the hospital – sad,...
The Quiet Kind of Trouble We Carry by Joely Williams
The Quiet Kind of Trouble We Carryby Joely WilliamsTrouble has a way of finding us even when we’ve stopped moving. It hums in the pipes, in the cracked tile where the light breaks differently every morning. Sometimes it’s small – a text we shouldn’t send, a name we...
The Raptors by Jen Bryant
The Raptorsby Jen BryantThe heavy glass door hasn’t even finished swinging shut before the guy behind the counter says something dumb. “Ah – there they are! The raptors.” The brass shop bell that announced our arrival falls silent. I roll my eyes and turn away, hoping...
The Scorpion by Salvatore Difalco
The Scorpionby Salvatore DifalcoI caught it out back on the morning you said you were leaving. Put it in a jar. It remained still till noon when it raised its stinger, angry pincers clicking, likely screaming for air. So I pierced the jar lid with the Montblanc pen...
tidbit from a former Black catholic high school girl by Blanche Kabengele
tidbit from a former Black catholic high school girlby Blanche Kabengele meant living lifedoing thingsto fit in tryingto live in sceneswhere braids so tighthurt my thoughtsBlanche Saffron Kabengele, author of Conjugal Relations of Africans and African Americans...
Tu(r)ning by Shivpreet Singh
Tu(r)ningby Shivpreet SinghNight is a room of low notes. The fridge hums a distant highway; a car door closes in a minor key. Your trouble is an instrument with six stubborn strings: twist the tight, lift the slack, listen for the wobble. Turn the peg until the...
