Wafer Cookies

As she emptied the oven of sheet pans, Jeanene slammed each batch onto the counter to make the cookies flat and crisp. She recalled a benign mass that had spread over her left hand, a “bible cyst,” and shutting her eyes as she did when the good book popped the lump into her body.

No Right Choice

Nurse shining ear light,

at urgent care for something unrelated.

Increasing upset over wax accumulation

furious digging with metal instruments.

Pain and popping sounds.

More digging.

Being defensive in return—

“You tell me no Q-tips,

ear candling,

or hydrogen peroxide,

there’s no right choice for me to make.”

RE: Gem Show help needed

We met at the coffee shop to discuss potential employment. 

He told me about his ex-wife, bitter, the scorpion infestation in his garage, out of hand.

I told him I had never worked with jewelry before but have a meticulous personality.

He asked if I was opposed to the handling of human remains, and that if so, our pairing would not be a good one.





Raegan Bird has fiction published in New York Tyrant, Post Road, Muumuu House and PETS from Tyrant Books. She currently lives in Virginia and co-runs BLUE ARRANGEMENTS.