# Twin Flame Literary


## Posts

- [Letter From The Editor #4](https://twinflameliterary.com/letter-from-the-editor-4/): To the readers of Twin Flame Literary,   We are so excited to present our fourth issue for your enjoyment! These 18 pieces&#8212;12 poems and 6 pieces of prose&#8212;highlight the types of voices we hoped for when creating Twin Flame Literary. In these pieces of writing, whether you are reading about weathering Hurricane Maria, or a contemplation of New [&hellip;]
- [brightest sight](https://twinflameliterary.com/brightest-sight/): by Robin J Bartley Mooney Greenwall was born to be a girl on fire. She came dancing out of the womb to a family of ten siblings, two parents, and was strapped in the most handed down pair of tap shoes her family could afford, and they afforded very little. Her parents had nine older [&hellip;]
- [seed coat](https://twinflameliterary.com/seed-coat/): by Wren Douglas ﻿ Wren Douglas is an SFF author from Italy, where they live with their devilish cats and one sprightly old dog. Their work has been featured in Strange Horizons, Kaleidotrope, and the 2023 Lambda finalist anthology XENOCULTIVARS: Stories of Queer Growth, among other venues. They&#8217;re @awritingwren on Bluesky
- [everyone in midtown looks like my dad](https://twinflameliterary.com/everyone-in-midtown-looks-like-my-dad/): by Angelina Fay I didn’t know it was the last time –It caught me in the turnstileavoiding my mind’s eye In a world not unchangednow the knowing comes in wavesand on every street cornerI’m seeking your frame trains hiss through tunnel veinsand thoughts fall heavy like a rain all fall to the summer from spring [&hellip;]
- [a consciousness not yet considered](https://twinflameliterary.com/a-consciousness-not-yet-considered/): by Michael Fowler The local job fair was held at the bus station, west of the center of town near the wax museum. Much to the annoyance of travelers, hundreds of job hopefuls filled the seats across from the toilets and ticket counters, muttering their CVs into the air for strolling headhunters to hear. I [&hellip;]
- [repititions](https://twinflameliterary.com/repititions/): by Arlie Moberly When the news comes about the fellowship, it’s him she phones first. He is the one who rooted music in her brain, in her blood, in the very way she’s wired. He is where all of this started. It was his records playing in the living room when she was five, six, [&hellip;]
- [love and other impossibilities](https://twinflameliterary.com/love-and-other-impossibilities/): by Elena Goh There is a story among the angels.   Sometimes it’s circulated as an urban legend, sometimes a cautionary tale. About boundaries and safety and the limitations of God’s brightest creatures (I never figured out which of the two the last bit was referring to).   It goes something like this. In the [&hellip;]
- [mieszko](https://twinflameliterary.com/mieszko/): by Dr. Jacek Blaszkiewicz “Now that’s a unique name,” the clerk replies to the boy in the blue slacks and blue polo with theembroidered crucifix. “Different. Not even attempting the last name.”The mother hovers behind Mieszko, her White Diamonds perfume penetrating the plexiglass likesmoke. She does not smile. Her resting deer-in-headlights pout matches the expression [&hellip;]
- [resiliencia](https://twinflameliterary.com/resilencia/): by Victor Benito When rabid winds would snarl against our windows, Papi would rein our family into the hallway at the back of the house. He would make us crouch down while he turned off all the lights, and my mother lined us up along the walls. Then my parents would each sit on the [&hellip;]
- [zamzara](https://twinflameliterary.com/zamzara/): by Costantino Toth After “The Decameron” The cuss and valanga’s part of the duet. The mountain’s a dreaming orange, and you, you need a hard drink. This is routine,     after all.     Routine. A cloud making the evening strobe. You shouldering through   trees for earshot,     ringing like an empty glass. The mountain’s [&hellip;]
- [waltz: pectus excavatum +1](https://twinflameliterary.com/waltz-pectus-excavatum-1/): by Max Pearson waltz: pectus excavatum through the peephole in the curtain, i seeoutside, where the wind howls and snow crashestitanium cymbals against my perspiring window. oblivious,you twist over in my bedsheets. half-asleep,my middle-school Justin Bieber blanket falls to revealthe soft scoop in your chest. i cup my handand make suction-cup sounds on the dentuntil [&hellip;]
- [confessions](https://twinflameliterary.com/confessions/): by Willa Stonecipher My love is a city, and I must confess That the manholes scream sinner, That the trams resound symphonic screeches, Lurid and naked in primeval chords, That the common quiet alights With luminous smears of unshaded windowpanes.   That I only take lovers who live off the Red Line, Nameless in my [&hellip;]
- [home in my own skin](https://twinflameliterary.com/home-in-my-own-skin/): by Amanda Hawk Watch your step-I tend to spark. My life has been built out of matchbooks.My childhood was wildfires before hopscotch, so I leap over fences with skinned knees,my emotions in my back pocket. I look for exit signs instead of open doors.Learn to memorize escape routes but not how to read a map.I [&hellip;]
- [when the bottle turns](https://twinflameliterary.com/when-the-bottle-turns/): by Jordyn Damato When I was a young girl I prayed to a glass bottle on the stained carpet in my closet and I beggedthe Lord to make me straight. I asked for a sign, I bargained with the man, I said, “if I come backto the bottle turned either direction as proof I’m not [&hellip;]
- [new year's eve, 2024](https://twinflameliterary.com/new-years-eve/): by James Croal Jackman the streetlights have that angelic glow.green sun with a halo or sickly lionmane. you tell me don’t tell the copsthat when we get pulled over. becausehalfway through the drive the treestaste extra sweet. that extra hintof mint we take to your friend’shouse with the glowing purplepool where kids throw pinesinto a [&hellip;]
- [diagnosis](https://twinflameliterary.com/diagnosis/): by Romy Morreo Remember the time I coughed so hardI tore a lung?the microbes inside, dormant, held for decadesgot outinfiltrated my red cells, turned my fingerscarcinogenic, my feet clawed,my voice as venomous as my spitand my flesh crept necroticshrivelling from the inside like a burningscreaming mandrakeand my gums rotted, crawling, until all I could dowas [&hellip;]
- [slippage](https://twinflameliterary.com/slippage/): by Sambhu Ramachandran A squirrel was caughtin an electric fence.The smell of charred fleshas of a barbecue full-swing in hellcoated the air when wemoved in from the meadow’s edge.A swarm of flies whirredover its furry tail,limp upon the grass.A surge of current, perhaps,we surmised and sighed—Thank God, it wasn’t a man.But there was a hole [&hellip;]
- [a certain sigh of creeping green](https://twinflameliterary.com/a-certain-sigh-of-creeping-green/): by Chris Cummins We breathe this season to cleanse the soulWatching escape, a form without form is aCool, crisp symbol for passing.Early December deafens the calls of life, itsRetreat evident in gray sky and hard earthBegging to speak of green again.   In morning’s stagnancy, anomaly is found in you-A leaf, dry and brown and [&hellip;]
- [will I live forever?](https://twinflameliterary.com/will-i-live-forever/): by Ariel Friedman you ask me at bedtimeon your fourth birthday and when I say no, noone lives forever and you say, but numbers go forever,my mind traces the imagined course of your life—eight-year-old turnedteenager, gangly kid in a dorm turned twenty-something in a queenbed, cuddled with the shadowy figure of not-me until you are [&hellip;]
- [Letter From The Editor #3](https://twinflameliterary.com/letter-from-the-editor-3/): October ushers in the third issue of Twin Flame Literary, a triumph of writing. This month, we celebrate voices full of passion, vivacity, and livelihood. With every issue, we are continuously impressed by the level of storytelling we encounter in all the stories, poems, and essays we read. Thank you to everyone who submitted and [&hellip;]
- [The Language of Belief](https://twinflameliterary.com/the-language-of-belief/): by Derek Kannemeyer Sober, Ordinary, Honest Men  “On the sixth day of April, 1830, 161 years ago today, in Seneca County, NY, six sober, ordinary, honest men, acting in obedience to a commandment of God, assembled to found a church. What they did that day ranks among the most important events to have transpired since [&hellip;]
- [Tree Soup](https://twinflameliterary.com/tree-soup/): by Ylan Arwe  My mother claims premonitions of death always come to her in dreams, or as birds gently tapping at her window. For me, news of death always arrived the same manner it does for everyone else: abrupt, awkward, downright rude. When I heard my phone ring before dawn, I feared my mother had [&hellip;]
- [Clutching the Keyboard](https://twinflameliterary.com/clutching-the-keyboard/): by Emma McCoy Emma McCoy (M.A) has two poetry books: This Voice Has an Echo (2024) and In Case I Live Forever (2022). She’s been published in places like Across the Margin, Stirring Literary, and Thimble Mag. She reads for Chestnut Review and Whale Road Review. She’s probably working on her novel right now. Catch [&hellip;]
- [Tails First](https://twinflameliterary.com/tails-first/): by Beth Richards The drive down Florida State Highway 19 is typical west-central, formerly small-town Florida: a flat four-lane, divided highway with stoplights synchronized to match the speed limit—which no one follows. Every 1,000 feet or so, a lane graciously sashays left, allowing travelers to cross the divider to access a condo complex or fast-food [&hellip;]
- [Breakfast in America, Border Keepers](https://twinflameliterary.com/breakfast-in-america-border-keepers/): by Peter Leroe-Muñoz BREAKFAST IN AMERICA To be precise, my single cup of Japaneseloose-leaf tea purchased from an Afghani waiter whohappened to be working that shift in a French cafésat down between an Ethiopian eatery and a Malaysiannoodle house knotted with Guatemalan cocineros ona city block that was previously German butfrequently misattributed as Dutch. A [&hellip;]
- [Clown Car](https://twinflameliterary.com/clown-car/): by Jenna McClain It’s sort of silly, don’t you think?A clown car painted taupe,a handlebar mustache on a priest.A surgeon wearing Crocsand any faith put in a mall cop.   Poetry’s the rubber shoe,pedal to the floor,cross hanging from the rear view mirror,broken taser in the glove box.You can only go one speedand no one [&hellip;]
- [The Field](https://twinflameliterary.com/the-field/): by Wayne Lee Writer, editor and teacher Wayne Lee (wayneleepoet.com) lives in Santa Fe, NM. Lee’s poems have appeared in Tupelo Press, Slipstream, The New Guard, Writer’s Digest and other journals and anthologies. He was awarded the 2012 Fischer Prize and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and four Best of the Net Awards. His collection The [&hellip;]
- [tell that story again](https://twinflameliterary.com/tell-that-story-again/): by Vesper Grove When I was a sister my brother told me stories underblankets of storm clouds and pillow forts because he thoughtI was scared of thunder, and the yelling in the walls. That&#8217;s whenI learned fear could bring people together.   When I was a sister my brother stole books on castles;We crafted every [&hellip;]
- [Even after the world ends, I always date peludas](https://twinflameliterary.com/even-after-the-world-ends-i-always-date-peludas/): by C.L. Rooster Martinez “Witchy Woman” plays &amp; the Eagles don’t knowthat I know that brujeria lives in the hair –curly &amp; wet &amp; coarse &amp; coffeerich     mystic mujeressirenas con cabellos sin cortaswild thicket womenovergrown in the face of a mad psychotic cosmic I love the shock &amp; awe you adorn me in–Pelo on [&hellip;]
- [Autumn, Again](https://twinflameliterary.com/autumn-again/): by Kaylee Fichtel And suddenly its autumn born again,and although I’ve moved half a state away(back to the coast, to the forest, to home),the kiss-swept sun of september duskis the same milky gold of every fall before:   Falling, lazily, through leaves and brancheslike tacked-up birthday streamers sagging with ageand dappling different sidewalks in the [&hellip;]
- [Apart](https://twinflameliterary.com/apart/): by B.A. Brittingham   So many nights I visited you alone—For we were both solitary; I above anddealing with the world of cars, groceries,jobs, laundry, and you below finding your wayin the what-comes-after world, wearing yourdenim jacket and embroidered shirt (stitchedby my own hand) resting in that forever pose.We were alone and yet close, a [&hellip;]
- [On the anniversary of his passing](https://twinflameliterary.com/on-the-anniversary-of-his-passing/): by Stephen Ruffus Sleep remains spectral in a blue light,saturated and dispersed in a prism.He ripples out like water drawn tothe horizon until it rushes back again.Or even more truly, he walks upa steep path with seemingly no end,trees on both sides giving him comfortthen descends toward the housewhere he lives. Although untetheredfrom him we [&hellip;]
- [Salty](https://twinflameliterary.com/salty/): by Elizabeth Cooper After the beach you kissed me for the first time. &#8220;We taste salty&#8221; you said &#8211; as though the sea had synthesised us swirled us into a single thing with a single flavour. Moments later remnants of sand on skin rubbed away the outlines of our individual bodies. Elizabeth Cooper is an [&hellip;]
- [Ahmedabad](https://twinflameliterary.com/ahmedabad/): by Charlie Brice In memory of the 270 souls lost in theJune 12, 2025 crash of Air India flight 171   Sweating in his dhoti, the little man pushes his cart alongbrick streets under a cruel sun. Engine roar makes himlook at the plane rising. How much rice does he spill on Ahmedabad’s bumpy streetswhere [&hellip;]
- [Insomniacs](https://twinflameliterary.com/insomniacs/): by Pamela Hobart Carter after Deborah Digges     Notice the last brightness leave the field at its back,ignoring it into a nonexistence.   Ants, crows, squirrels—always up to something.We board the bus to sail beyond earthly gravity,   or step onto the slack rope, precarious over a canyon.A kind of buoyancy like a hot [&hellip;]
- [Flotsam](https://twinflameliterary.com/flotsam/): by Nicholas Olah I take a walk in the dark. Crickets and fist-sized frogs are close; a breeze carries belly laughsfrom across the pond. Otherwise,I am alone.  I think about how I have loved you and you will never know this.  I think about holding my broken parts up to the light but the days are shortening again. It happens every year—the light dims and leaves. [&hellip;]
- [The Final Piece](https://twinflameliterary.com/the-final-piece/): by Evan Balkan Her name was Susan Goldstein. She joined our class in late September. When Mrs. Joyce introduced her, Susan’s face shaded scarlet. Sitting in the desk next to hers, I could feel her radiating a prickly heat as she mumbled, “Clover.” “Clover,” Mrs. Joyce pronounced. “Okay. I think we can handle that,” she [&hellip;]
- [When We Win](https://twinflameliterary.com/when-we-win/): by Garry Engkent By the time Ah-mah finished consulting the I-Ching, I was worried that we might be running late. But she had insisted her rites be done before we could drive her cousin to the airport. So, I fetched the mail—two bills and a letter—as she jotted down her numbers for the lottery. The [&hellip;]
- [Lesbians on the moon](https://twinflameliterary.com/lesbians-on-the-moon/): by Marc Rosenberg So it came to pass, in 1965, “The Colt 45s” baseball team would change its name to “The Houston Astro(naut)s” to play in the first ever domed stadium &#8211; the Astrodome. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), headquarters for astronautical travel was just down the road, so the name was appropriate. [&hellip;]
- [Lover's Walk](https://twinflameliterary.com/lovers-walk/): by Eve Naden We’re on holiday, our first together. Corfu, Greece. We’re traditional in this way. A pricey villa, white sand, sugary cocktails. Nights out on the town, over-pronouncing foreign words. Our pool: breath-taking for the first 24 hours, then a spa for the neighbourhood insects for the rest of our trip.  We’re halfway through. [&hellip;]
- [Is it you?](https://twinflameliterary.com/is-it-you/): by Stephanie V Sears Extraordinary sympathies occur between humans and other species. In this particular case, it happened between two warm-blooded ones, though, I dare say, life’s unbridled imagination comes up with even stranger combinations than this one.  I was in a dry spiny area of South Africa, volunteering in an animal sanctuary. My somewhat [&hellip;]
- [Fiancées](https://twinflameliterary.com/fiancees/): by John B. Friedman Tater was well known to the trout clubs on Michigan’s Au Sable river. Early mornings or late afternoons fishing guests stood on the docks to watch him wade up and down casting, his loop as tight as a hairpin. Crystal drops fell from his line in the sun. His leader was [&hellip;]
- [The Shiny People](https://twinflameliterary.com/the-shiny-people/): by Heather D Haigh Joan creaks out of the shower and wraps herself in a thick towel, clinging to a vestige of warmth. She shudders; another patch of rust on her forearm is growing. It brings to mind Brian&#8217;s medieval gauntlets, marred by rust after a particularly soggy re-enactment weekend and a leaky tent. She [&hellip;]
- [untitled](https://twinflameliterary.com/untitled/): by Lucy Arnold im thinking of finding a car thief tonightbecause im wondering if he knew you surely he didnt randomly think, yeah this househe must have known youand im desperate to know youyou held me when i was born buti know nothingi have your ashes, your notebooks, cassette tapes you recorded, a fucking book [&hellip;]
- [Disappearing maps](https://twinflameliterary.com/disappearing-maps/): by Martin Willis   I was just twelve when I first understood that maps could be deceptive. Not the harmless kind of errors—like a misspelled name or a river drawn a bit off—but the more profound kind of deceit, the sort that wipes entire places off the face of the earth. It all started with [&hellip;]
- [This is not quite a fairy story](https://twinflameliterary.com/this-is-not-quite-a-fairy-story/): by Margaret Pearce Once upon a time there was an Institute of Technology inhabited by Administration (busy), teachers (conscientious) technicians (eccentric) and sundry member of the V.P.S.A. It was an old overcrowded little place. The Administration (busy), struggled with Murphy’s law that anything that can go wrong will and prayed for better days. The teachers [&hellip;]
- [Dream Island Home](https://twinflameliterary.com/dream-island-home/): by Terry Barr It’s not often that I think about the 80s band The Fixx even though I liked them and they had more hits than you might think. I love how lines come to me when I’m trying to think of the way to get into a story, too. They say you don’t always [&hellip;]
- [The Last Stop](https://twinflameliterary.com/the-last-stop/): by Justin Alcalá There’s something about a train that calms me even on this glum Halloween night. I remember when my childhood revolved around the holiday. Unspoken magic once wove its way into creating costumes and decorating. But the wonder is gone, pilfered by adult obligations. Today, when I feel all alone on this train, [&hellip;]
- [Risk](https://twinflameliterary.com/risk/): by Anthony J. Mohr I. The object of the game is to conquer the world by occupying every territory on the board, thus  eliminating all your opponents.  —Rules of Play for Risk, Parker Brothers’ Continental Game  I cringed with my soldiers in Australia. There was only one way in and one way out— through Indonesia. [&hellip;]
- [Mummy's Boy](https://twinflameliterary.com/mummys-boy/): by Michael Shawyer The underground train rocked and my cello case toppled towards Lonely Lennie from Leamington Spa.  “If that hits me I’ll sue for PTSV.”  PTSV? What was he? Special forces? I’d never met Lonely Lennie before and profoundly hoped this would be the only time. I needed a cushion. Not to sit on. [&hellip;]
- [tarnishing](https://twinflameliterary.com/tarnishing/): by Linda Maria The last leaf of autumn clings, a trembling scarlet against November’s gray. Tomorrow, thewind will take it too—this final punctuation mark in the year’s slow exhalation. Petals forgettheir names first. The rose abandons its red, the violet its purple, until both become the sametranslucent brown. Even the sky, that relentless optimist, surrenders [&hellip;]
- [Little Mermaids](https://twinflameliterary.com/little-mermaids/): by Susann Cokal When my mother died, my grandmother told me it was the saddest thing imaginable, a child dying before the parent. They had had a difficult relationship, but of course a mother must  grieve the loss of her daughter.    I took a spoonful of the ashes to Denmark, where Mormor lived and [&hellip;]
- [12 Heart Metaphors: a Chinglish Poem in Collocations](https://twinflameliterary.com/12-heart-metaphors-a-chinglish-poem-in-collocations/): by Yuan Changming  心房: heart house for a soul to dwell in心扉: heart door always ready to be opened心鼓: heart drum to be beaten rhythmically心匣: heart case where to store one’s feelings心镜: heart mirror to reflect one’s inner self心田: heart field in which to grow the seeds of hope心原: heart wildland for the will to [&hellip;]
- [Muse invites me inside to watch her ink her own skin](https://twinflameliterary.com/muse-invites-me-inside-to-watch-her-ink-her-own-skin/): by Margaret Kathryn Warren she conjures a collage of living tattoos: beetles creeptoward knees. a toad smirks, looking at a can of soupshaped like a pack of cigarettes. a mushroompatch dances in purple above her elbow. Muse isn’t happywith the fox on her breast. though it winks, its feetwrinkle at the ankles. the fur smudges,but [&hellip;]
- [Grief](https://twinflameliterary.com/grief/): by Michael Baldwin Grief entered my earlike fingernails clawingat the blackboard of my being Grief found your holein my souland set to chewing its edges Grief smelt of burntbeans boiled drywhen I returned from hospice Grief looked at mein the mirrorand saw you here beside me Grief came to mein a dream of youreaching unreachably [&hellip;]
- [Killing Science](https://twinflameliterary.com/killing-science/): by John Dorroh Please understand that I know what I saw: metallic dragonflies dancing like tiny ballerinas on thepicnic table, the end closest to the wormwood that spills out of the container like witch hair,silvery and brittle, begging for moisture. Mardi gras colors, scales on wings stacked like shingleson a roof. Delicate yet aggressive, their [&hellip;]
- [Backstory, First Memory (Eve to Lilith)](https://twinflameliterary.com/backstory-first-memory-eve-to-lilith/): by Melanie Figg Backstory It was the housewhere divorcing beganin earnest. Houseof silence, houseof dissolve. Thepoisoned groundreeled. One girlcleaved, one doubled-down.It’s too easy to lookback and add inwhat we knownow: his affairs, hergirl-trauma. Meanwhile,they unpackedinto smaller andsmaller spaces.And the armynext doorkept a recordof the ruining,the toxic river,their breathtakingrecklessness, the yardwrecked with recklessdisregard. Despite,that girl got [&hellip;]
- [Meditations on the Sound of Wind](https://twinflameliterary.com/meditations-on-the-sound-of-wind/): by Mona Mehas obsession with the shape of treesdisturbed by easterly winds like blades of grass, I weave my wordsringlets open under the summer sky the sponge in my head is saturateddeep pores, peel the layers a gentle breeze, my breath in tandem to still me in my personal forest Indigo Buntings bluer than my [&hellip;]
- [Shared Spaces](https://twinflameliterary.com/shared-spaces/): by Donna Faulkner I live     in a house     with dead people.I live upon dead people&#8217;s land.   Thinning carrots, I senseghosts     in the garden.   kneel     in sod, sift     throughdirt     heretofore toiled.   Buried deep     beneath pink Damask rosesA dead dog     barks     at the backdoor.   [&hellip;]
- [The Intimacy of Bats](https://twinflameliterary.com/the-intimacy-of-bats/): by Alison Eastley After the summer of pollination, the noise of dying insectsis nothing but a thin tremor for a clique of circling wings,this strange ceremony of long-eared bats hanging upside down in the backblocks behind thin skinned paperbarks,   I remember saying melaleuca, melaleuca as if milk,honey and wine could incite dangerous sensationsaway from [&hellip;]
- [After The Mockingbirds](https://twinflameliterary.com/after-the-mockingbirds/): by Daniel Naawenkangua Abukuri The mower’s teeth are sleeping in the shed. Today, I pull weeds by hand, small murders of green, roots snapping like bone. Mockingbirds jeer from the neighbor’s elm.   I don’t speak. I owe the quiet something. This house has known too many names, some given kindly, some carved in spit. [&hellip;]
- [Strawberry Stains](https://twinflameliterary.com/strawberry-stains/): by Irina Vérène spring is coming with a strawberry in the mouth whipped cream skin and sparkling sugar eyes plump lips overflowing red, stained with a passion too fervent for a fragile flower pinprick blood-point juice drop tongue too sharp to be sweet as the nectar bees crave cutting-edge teeth tearing through soft flesh bites [&hellip;]
- [Blasphemy](https://twinflameliterary.com/blasphemy/): by Sampurna Chakraborty She rose up from the ashes, Anointed and clean. Life&#8217;s eternal glory unfurled, Breathed and set out to dream.   She sniffed the rapid air,  And walked the burning land, She looked up and sighed, At the tainted hues of the sky.   She knelt upon the barren land, And embraced its [&hellip;]
- [Sheep Dip](https://twinflameliterary.com/sheep-dip/): by Mark Blickley Corporal Toby Weydig was lazy. Some people might think of him as a good person or a bad person, but everyone acquainted with Corporal Weydig would agree that he was extremely indolent. In May of 1970, Toby was discharged from the Army after honorably completing his two year draft obligation. Although Toby’s [&hellip;]
- [Letter From The Editor](https://twinflameliterary.com/letter-from-the-editor-2/): In a climate that has been rocked by turmoil, we hope that Twin Flame Literary offers our readers a concoction of thoughtful consideration and intellectual curiosity. This issue, we’ve selected works from 27 amazing writers and poets – pieces that made us sit up straighter, shed tears, and slump down in grief. Thank you again [&hellip;]
- [Did She](https://twinflameliterary.com/did-she/): by Mark Kline She leaves the front door wide open. The snow cover is thin and patchy, her slippered feet seek grass. The corner streetlight is pitifully weak, yet she squints and turns away from its needle-like violet aura – how will she ever find Billy out here? He’ll freeze, and her dear children, and [&hellip;]
- [1964](https://twinflameliterary.com/1964-2/): by Bett Butler  The young girl&#8217;s sandals slap the buckled sidewalks of Wesley Street. She feels silly and conspicuous in her grandmother&#8217;s sun hat, the sweatband stained blue-black by hair dye and perspiration. Stiff from decades of blackland prairie summers, the straw crown swallows her head like an overturned bowl, hot and heavy on her [&hellip;]
- [What Love Is](https://twinflameliterary.com/what-love-is/): by Janet Goldberg We’d been playing for two hours. Texas Hold ’Em. Five Card Draw. Seven Card Stud.  Chicago. From my childhood, I knew the names well enough, my father a long-time gambler,  but I was hardly an expert. All I really knew was that it was a loser’s game, my father ending up in [&hellip;]
- [Fiddler's Green](https://twinflameliterary.com/fiddlers-green/): by Craig Borri The first thing Manuel noticed was the lack of pain. This pleasantly surprised him. The next thing he noticed was he was walking. This was also a surprise, since he hadn’t been able to do that for nearly a year. Then another surprise, he realized he was wearing his old SEAL  uniform [&hellip;]
- [Split Decision](https://twinflameliterary.com/split-decision/): by Robert Runté So, Mr. Shakey came over the intercom saying it was 2:03 and would all the teachers stop whatever they were doing and please water the plants? As Mrs. Harness went for the door, Bethany-Anne reached over from her desk and peeked out under the shutters. Mr. Shakey? Oh, sorry. Mr. Sheckley, the [&hellip;]
- [Lily-white](https://twinflameliterary.com/lily-white/): by Joe Michael Feist Jack McCarthy would have crushed the alarm clock had he not moved it just out of reach the night before, knowing himself as he did. He threw one leg off the bed, then the other.   That’s all I need today, he thought, as he twisted to massage a stiff neck [&hellip;]
- [+/-](https://twinflameliterary.com/2351-2/): by George Yatchisin Is there any bigger ask than the exact?I hope to live in approximation nation,my days a seesaw with a burly boyso often at the far end of the board.Even the French suggest comme cicomme ça, their words singinga sense that things could swing inany direction, that results awaita mere vowel away from [&hellip;]
- [letter from the editor](https://twinflameliterary.com/letter-from-the-editor/): To everyone who had the courage to submit to Twin Flame Literary: we applaud you! Thank you to everyone who supported Twin Flame Literary in its inaugural edition – we’re so proud to finally bring you the finished product. After meticulously going through over 700 submissions from 44 different countries, we’ve curated 23 pieces that [&hellip;]
- [Nocturne](https://twinflameliterary.com/nocturne/): by Andrea Mazzariello   Twenty years ago I found a recording of my father playing the piano. I burned it onto a blank CD, sketched my father’s silhouette across the reflective acrylic in permanent marker, and gave it to him as a retirement gift, the music he once played lasered under a drawing of his [&hellip;]
- [Darling, How I Love You Twice // Let's Raise Our Glass](https://twinflameliterary.com/darling-how-i-love-you-twice-lets-raise-our-glass/): by Amy Soricelli Darling, How I Love You Twice The country singer says he has two eyes,and one watches you walk away.The other just loves you, and sees you,and there is nothing in the blue but the blue.   I wonder if the country song is about you,and how you have two hearts.One you gave [&hellip;]
- [The Best](https://twinflameliterary.com/the-best/): by Valentine Mizrahi My stupid phone, it rings and rings. I can see it’s Asher, my younger son, an urgent ring, pressing, distracting me while I drive.&nbsp; My phone is perched on the console between the front seats. I don’t answer.&nbsp; It is raining, hard.&nbsp; The phone rings again and again.&nbsp; Then the alarming pings [&hellip;]
- [Auld Lang Syne](https://twinflameliterary.com/auld-lang-syne/): by Deborah Blenkhorn &nbsp;&#8221;&nbsp;Should old acquaintance be forgot&nbsp; And never brought to mind?&#8221; &#8211;&nbsp;Robert Burns, 1788 When he was born, the youngest of seven, they had to change all his blood—right through the top of his head. “I was Rh-negative,” his mother, my godmother, explains to those who hear the story. Now, I think, he [&hellip;]
- [Destination: Toronto @ Midnight](https://twinflameliterary.com/destination-toronto-midnight/): by John RC Potter      Growing up in a small southwestern Ontario town, I was always aware that Toronto&#8217;s  cultural and nightlife metropolis was a few hours’ drive to the east. It was a mecca that  beckoned to me from an early age. It was physically not far away; however, metaphysically it  seemed as distant from [&hellip;]
- [Anything Can Happen](https://twinflameliterary.com/anything-can-happen/): by Ashley W. Cundiff At four, my twin boys discovered the solar system and were quickly obsessed with planets. One claimed Jupiter as his own personal favorite (because of its size) the other, Saturn (because of its good looks). They drew planets constantly, checked all the planet books out from the library, watched planet videos, [&hellip;]
- [Five Second Rule](https://twinflameliterary.com/five-second-rule/): by Sam Hendrian  I’ve already told this story through many poems. But sometimes poetry is a form of cowardice, a means of avoiding the vulnerability of the unembellished truth. And so it’s about time I summoned the courage to tell this bittersweet tale in raw prose, even if my omnipresent insecurities and projections are painted [&hellip;]
- [Generational Reflections](https://twinflameliterary.com/generational-reflections/): by Taylor Scott I think constantly, agonize over my morals, debate if they’re moral enough, and if I’m smart enough to be great. I am most myself when my skin buzzes with anxious thoughtfulness, in both meanings of the word. I probably spent an entire year, in the grand scheme of my limited lifetime, analyzing [&hellip;]
- [Ever Too Much](https://twinflameliterary.com/ever-too-much/): by Elizabeth Hallenberg Bea reminded herself that the pact was binding. Granny couldn’t say no. They signed their names at the bottom of a contract handwritten on parchment paper. Sixteen-year-old Bea insisted on burning the edges for authenticity. Sixty-three-year-old Granny indulged her, happy she wasn’t growing up too fast.They chose poetic words, but they did [&hellip;]
- [You're the Chief](https://twinflameliterary.com/youre-the-chief/): by Travis Lee   You attend the funeral in civilian clothes and sit in the back. The chaplain’s up front with the family in his dress blues and no one told you to come, you just decided to do it. You think showing up will absolve you of what happened, your responsibility which tickles your [&hellip;]
- [time capsule](https://twinflameliterary.com/time-capsule/): by Rachel Uon encased in an old popcorn bucket: a notebook filled with the only artistic confessions I did not mold to please the public eye; in them, a naked truth I could not face and hate to uncover now. a clump of moss, protected from natural degradation only by my persistent belief in its [&hellip;]
- [tu es animae dimidium meae](https://twinflameliterary.com/tu-es-animae-dimidium-meae/): by Em Haas I met you—really met you—three years ago. We had been simple acquaintances before, just two passing, pleasant ships, but you took the place beside me once and then you were suddenly close to me always. I remember I thought it wondrous you even remembered my name, even though you had your head [&hellip;]
- [Judgements](https://twinflameliterary.com/judgements/): by Gary Beck The minute they walked into the store I knew they were cops, but not locals. Some kind of state boys come up from Cheyenne by the look of them. I started for the bathroom to avoid them, but the meaner looking one, in a blue suit that looked like he found it [&hellip;]
- [Blood Brother](https://twinflameliterary.com/blood-brother/): by Sarah Das Gupta The ugly red scar stretched from just below his left eye to the corner of his lips. It divided his  face in half. Archie had to admit that it was almost a passport, a symbol of identity. There  were certainly two sides to Archie Edgar Duncan, but you shouldn’t stop there. [&hellip;]
- [Treats in Mio](https://twinflameliterary.com/treats-in-mio/): by Chris Dungey Zach Pence followed the older boy, Keith, down the hill out of the dead-end cul-de-sac. They turned a corner and marched toward the main street. He could see that there were more cars moving between the two traffic lights. One was a blinking yellow a couple of blocks away, the other a [&hellip;]
- [As Good as Rodents](https://twinflameliterary.com/as-good-as-rodents/): by Rebecca Klassen   ‘You’re an anomaly,’ the checkout girl said. I thought I’d misheard the words that hadslipped from her coral-buttered lips. Perhaps she’d said, ‘I think you’re into me,’ or‘that’s four pound seventy.’‘Sorry, what?’ I bagged my eggs, wanting her phone number, and she pointedat my firefighter shirt.     ‘An anomaly. Running towards [&hellip;]
- [Point of View](https://twinflameliterary.com/point-of-view/): by T.P. Bird “There is nothing insignificantin the world. It all depends onthe point of view.”—Goethe   A woman is cleaningthe inside of a glass door.At the end of her arm   is a white cloth—moving in circlesagainst the pane.   It‘s as if she is wavingto the world—eitherhello or goodbye.   As to which—is [&hellip;]
- [Rickey's Blues // One of These Days](https://twinflameliterary.com/rickeys-blues-one-of-these-days/): by James Kangas Rickey&#8217;s Blues   Finally, it was laughable&#8211;how he left you in the theater like that,like a partnerless glove after he’d sat through fiveminutes of the movie, itching for a brewto suck down, a worked-up claque at his favorite dive.Magnet-eyed as he was, the littlemetal molecules in your body had jerkedyou across the [&hellip;]
- [5th Avenue Motel](https://twinflameliterary.com/5th-avenue-motel/): by Scott C. Holstad They closed the transient5th Avenue Motel and nowwhere will they go?The single mother withher two daughterseating cockroaches fromthe floor, hell, where willthe rats and roaches go?The city thinks it’sa drug infested blight,but Jack Neeley knowsits secret history, likelyonce a grand buildingnear Knoxville’s 4thand Gill district.They came from allover to stay for [&hellip;]
- [Ardour Everlasting and Companionship Eternal](https://twinflameliterary.com/ardour-everlasting-and-companionship-eternal/): by J. J. Steinfeld They connected online a bells-and-whistles dating service billed as ardour everlasting and companionship eternal she the world’s largest supermodel he the world’s smallest bodybuilder photographs exchanged touched up, enhanced even in their superlative incarnations that is, largest and smallest. Of the numerous headshots an expert on faces might say he was [&hellip;]
- [Climate Changed With New Heat Pump](https://twinflameliterary.com/climate-changed-with-new-heat-pump/): by Gerard Sarnat  I’d never in eighty years done it this way                      that is, in old house, one floor hot and second not                      thus we now can avail ourselves of weather fits       [&hellip;]
- [Four Horsemen Drinking Coffee](https://twinflameliterary.com/four-horsemen-drinking-coffee/): by Michael Mintrom I saw the four horsemen of the apocalypse drinking coffee on Church Street. Different from the paintings. No swords, no arrows, no scythe. No flamboyant sweeping above hay fields, smashed barns, chaos, death. Just old timers reminiscing about the rodeo. Their horse floats parked on vacant lots. Strange license plates. I knew [&hellip;]
- [Silence Redux // Flat tire therapy // Future Writer](https://twinflameliterary.com/silence-redux-flat-tire-therapy-future-writer/): by Diana Raab Silence redux Unlike others in my past, your being is not one which hangs or hovers over me,   but you permeate and effuse my ethers, making a mark like leaky fountain pens   we shared during our second coffee, as we licked our tongues to chocolate covered ginger crystals,   glowing [&hellip;]
- [Gray Day // Letters From Camp](https://twinflameliterary.com/gray-day-letters-from-camp/): by Paul Hostovsky Gray Day It’s the almost that I love about a gray day like today. In weather like this, I almost feel a kind of joy: the heavy sky, the feeling in the air of imminent release. I feel like I could almost cry. Cry as I haven’t since I was a boy. [&hellip;]

## Pages

- [Issue IV](https://twinflameliterary.com/contact/issue-iv/): ISSUE IV cover art by Claire Guo letter by the editor Poetry CHRIS CUMMINS // A Certain Sigh of Creeping Green SAMBHU RAMACHANDRAN // Slippage ROMY MORREO // Diagnosis AMANDA HAWK // Home In My Own Skin ANGELINA FAY // Everyone in midtown looks like my dad JORDYN DAMATO // When the Bottle Turns JAMES [&hellip;]
- [Issue III](https://twinflameliterary.com/contact/issue-iii/): ISSUE III cover art by Claire Guo letter by the editor Poetry NICK OLAH // Flotsam PAMELA HOBART CARTER // Insomniacs CHARLIE BRICE // Ahmedabad ELIZABETH COOPER // Salty STEPHEN RUFFUS // On the anniversary of his passing B.A. BRITTINGHAM // Apart KAYLEE FICHTEL // Autumn, Again C. L. MARTINEZ // Even after the world [&hellip;]
- [Issue II](https://twinflameliterary.com/contact/issue-i-2/): issue ii cover art by Claire Guo letter from the editor Poetry YUAN CHINGMING // 12 Heart Metaphors: a Chinglish Poem in CollocationsMARGARET KATHRYN WARREN // Muse invites me inside to watch her ink her own skinMICHAEL BALDWIN // GriefJOHN DORROH // Killing ScienceMELANIE FIGG // Backstory, First Memory (Eve to Lilith)LUCY ARNOLD // untitledMONA [&hellip;]
- [Issue I](https://twinflameliterary.com/contact/issue-i/): issue i cover art by Adriana Chavez letter from the editor Poetry PAUL HOSTOVSKY // Gray Day, Letters From Camp DIANA RAAB //  Silence Redux, Flat Tire Therapy, Future Writer JAMES KANGAS // Rickey&#8217;s Blues, One of These Days SCOTT C HOLSTAD // 5th Avenue Motel J.J. STEINFELD // Ardour Everlasting and Companionship Eternal GERARD SARNAT [&hellip;]
- [about](https://twinflameliterary.com/elementor-page-1827/): Masthead Editors-In-Chief Chelsea Y. Guo is a fiction writer and poet based in California. She is an alumna of the Iowa Young Writers Studio and the Adroit Summer Mentorship Program. She is a 2024 and 2026 YoungArts Winner in Fiction, and has been recognized by Scholastic and the Adroit Prizes for Prose. She has been [&hellip;]
- [previous issues](https://twinflameliterary.com/contact/): previous issues We are still working on our first issue! Check back soon :).
- [latest issue](https://twinflameliterary.com/services/): latest issue ISSUE I: Read here ISSUE II: Read here ISSUE III: Read here ISSUE IV: Read here
- [submit](https://twinflameliterary.com/about/): submit Submission Guidelines &#8211; We are seeking work that is original and will leave us thinking. We encourage you to be explorative. We accept previously published work, given that you retain rights to the piece and let us know where it was originally published.    &#8211; We respond within 72 hours. We believe in letting [&hellip;]
- [welcome](https://twinflameliterary.com/): TWIN FLAME LITERARY for words that feel like a kindred spirit on the page January 2026 ISSUE FOUR Twin Flame Literary is CLOSED for submissions. We accept prose, poetry, and creative nonfiction. We are looking for work that resonates deeply between writer and reader. We seek poetry and prose that speak to the soul— work that feels [&hellip;]


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