from Freshmankind Julie hurried into the lobby of Crumley, head down, not looking at anybody. She didn’t want anyone to see her, to know she’d come through, to remember her. She needed her meds. She needed her meds and her door behind her and her covers on top. She had to get under the covers or she didn’t know what might happen. The lobby was bustling. Every chair was occupied. Seinfeld on the big TV. She needed it to be empty. She needed the TV to be off. Someone was playin

The world you know in fragile octaves floats Upon the tune of time and happenstance Dark past and dimming future are the notes No melody, but music formed by chance And all that seems of purpose disappears And all that's left is accident and whim The music conjures forth your barest fears A faithless, hopeless, blank, unholy hymn A road, like printed note, provides no choice It goes from here to there and never brakes Your feet are now the instruments of voice And you conduct

#Freshmankind

I sit at the Graham kitchen table, hands on the edges of the wood. Never thought I’d come back here again. Pictures of her everywhere. I look at them and part of me, an old, dying specter of emptiness that thickens like smoke in my lungs, rises to life again. I don’t think I’ll ever understand her, what I felt for her, and what I thought she felt for me. And I suppose it doesn’t matter now. I’m leaving her soon. Here, leaving here. It still smells like her. Nancy Graham takes

#haiku #Freshmankind

#haiku #Freshmankind

#freshmankind #haiku #Freshmankind

May 16, 1997 BRITISH EMPIRE INVADES, COLONISTS RETALIATE MASSACHUSETTS STRIKES BACK AGAINST TYRANNY OF MOTHERLAND by Adam Archer, Staff Writer I still can’t believe high school is over. It seems like only yesterday that I showed up at Big Winters Elementary in the fifth grade with my Pound Puppies lunch box, to the delight of all the bullies. Of course, even back then I knew what I wanted to do with my life. However, since all my attempts to build a time machine and move to t

I know this song! I know this song! I’m having one of those weird dreams where you’re dreaming about a song and then you wake up and the song is playing. “Baby Got Back.” A classic. I kind of just want to lie here in bed and listen to it, but I crack my eyes open and, yeah, it’s my alarm. Damn. First day of college, and I just want to go for a ride in my Mercedes. Then I remember: I have a roommate. I slap the alarm clock with martial-art speed and it goes silent. I glance ov

I've started work on the second draft of Freshmankind. The first draft has been sitting in a drawer since 2008. To strengthen the voice, I'm rewriting every scene in first person from the point of view of whomever I determine to be the significant POV character. Sometimes it can be the person who knows the most, but I find it just as interesting to go into a scene from the perspective of the character who knows the least. I've color coded the whole book, assigning each color