miCRo: “The Club of the Missing” by Jen Michalski
Associate Editor Molly Reid: In Jen Michalski's lyrical poem-story, precise language delivers a fragmented, image-driven narrative that mines the space both on the page and surrounding the missing: "False starts: a wallet in the weeds, corpse-like shadows in...
miCRo: “City Magic” by Julie C. Day
Assistant Editor Jess Jelsma Masterton: When reading through miCRo submissions, I always find myself drawn to stories that blur boundaries; boundaries of form, genre, time—you name it! In "City Magic," Julie C. Day introduces us to a protagonist who straddles...
miCRo: “The Griefbearer” by Chris Haven
Associate Editor Molly Reid: Chris Haven's "The Griefbearer" is a fable for our time. The premise is enticing: someone to experience our loss for us. Who wouldn't want to escape the pain of grief, to be able to hoist it onto another person? Who wouldn't want...
miCRo: “Your Future” by Vanessa Cuti
Associate Editor Molly Reid: In Vanessa Cuti's "Your Future," she provokes the reader to fill in the white space around the narrator's dinner with a prior acquaintance. Familiar in its outline, vivid in its detail—"[The toothpicks] were bent and wet, and the...
miCRo: “Metaphor” by Nicky Beer
Associate Editor Caitlin Doyle: In "Metaphor," just as the poem's speaker pushes her body to its furthest reaches through intensive exercise, the poet probes the limitations of language. Nicky Beer spurs us to consider how our bodies and our words, depending on...
miCRo: “Any Body” by Sarah Freligh
Assistant Editor Jess Jelsma Masterton: Many writers shy away from the second-person perspective. Some literary journals go so far as to caution writers against submitting stories written in second person, suggesting that the point of view is somehow gimmicky...
miCRo: “Portrait as Landscape: Not the Fox” by Simone Muench and Jackie K. White
Associate Editor Caitlin Doyle: Our first cowritten poem for the miCRo series hails from two authors who are no strangers to pairing up on the page. As part of the editorial team behind They Said, a recently released multigenre anthology of contemporary collaborative...
miCRo: “Demolished” and “Crumbs” by Nicole Rivas
Assistant Editor Jess Jelsma Masterton: As a genre, micro fiction attempts to do the impossible: establish a protagonist with a clear conflict, all within a tiny, less than 500-word frame. The author must find a way to show the reader what is physically or...
miCRo: “Not Sorry” by Sarah Salway
Associate Editor Molly Reid: This one-sentence story is not a gimmick, and it is not sorry. An honest, almost-cruel moment opens out into wonder and uncertainty. Read this one out loud and let it take your breath away—and then do yourself a favor, and listen to Sarah...
miCRo: “My Husband’s Story from the War” and “Assisted Living” by Nance Van Winckel
Associate Editor Caitlin Doyle: What better way to herald the change of seasons than with a miCRo double feature that simultaneously registers and resists time’s passage? In this week’s two micro nonfiction pieces, "My Husband’s Story from the War" and...
miCRo: “A Drift: The Year She Moves Back Home” by Amanda Bales
Assistant Editor Jess Jelsma Masterton: When I read through submissions, the question I return to again and again is "What is this story's occasion?" Well-crafted openings put forth an answer for why the story must start where it does. What has changed or is in...
miCRo: “Up” by Tanya Whiton
Assistant Editor Jess Jelsma Masterton: Whenever I read or teach a piece of fiction, I always think about movement. As a reader, what pulls me through the piece? What keeps me racing toward the end? In Tanya Whiton's "Up," movement works on both a literal and...
