Flash Excerpt by Meg Pokrass
An Absurd Sample from Our Contest Judge
Editor's Note: We're now accepting submissions for the Fall 2016 Talking Writing Prize for Flash Fiction. The topic is Absurd Stories or "Flash of the Impossible," as contest judge Meg Pokrass puts it.
As a sample of absurd, surreal, offbeat flash fiction, we've included an excerpt below from Meg's story "Goldswack" in her 2016 collection The Dog Looks Happy Upside Down (© Etruscan Press, reprinted with permission).
The TW contest winner will receive $500 and publication in Talking Writing. Length: up to 800 words. Submission deadline: October 31, 2016.
For more information, visit the TW Contests page.
To enter the contest, click here.
Goldswack (an excerpt)
He sent her a touch-and-talk parrot, named Goldswack. They still hadn’t met in person, though he said he loved her soul, and she said she loved his.
The face of the parrot looked like the face of sex, all beaky and ecstatic and involved with its own satisfaction. She placed it high on top of her dresser, above everything else.
With the captain in mind, she lay down topless and bottomless, thinking about tobacco, pipes, and parrots. Blocking out elliptical machines, hormone patches, and Skinny Cow popsicles. The pattering of new rain put her to sleep for a midday nap—and while nothing wonderful slid up or down any particular crevice of her body—when she awoke she felt as though she'd been somewhere exotic.
Publishing Information
- "Goldswack" excerpt from The Dog Looks Happy Upside Down by Meg Pokrass (Etruscan Press, 2016); reprinted with permission of Etruscan Press. For more about this book and other titles, visit the Etruscan Press website.
Meg Pokrass is the award-winning author of several story collections, including The Dog Looks Happy Upside Down (Etruscan Press, 2016). She's also social media director and editor at Great Jones Street, Medium's short-story site and soon-to-be app.
