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The Wolf Who Was Late, Grace Elizabeth Butler
“Mom did everything she could to keep my blood from coming, but it came. It came on a Wednesday in June. The moon was in a waning gibbous phase, or waning “give dust,” as little Corey called it, and faded into the blue summer sky like a marble sinking into a pool. I was thirteen.”
How the Ninja Turtles Almost Got Me Killed, Nenad Pavlovic
“Later that same summer, my other best friend Alexander came to me and said that he made a radical discovery: he had found the actual sewer in which the Ninja Turtles live! And it wasn’t in Italy, or another city, but rather close, by the river! Of course, I had my doubts: his last two discoveries, the forgotten World War II weapons in a haunted mill, and the vampire’s treasure in another, unrelated haunted mill, turned out to be bogus.”
They being (being there), J. D. Dixon
“Tragic mountains rise / sharp against the horizon. / A chorus sweetly / sings. Friends: speak of the devil / and nothing much will happen.”
Chips and Cheers, Gary Moshimer
“One morning he showed up at our apartment. He wore a suit and tie. The purple loin cloth formed a neat triangle in his breast pocket. ‘Come girls, we’re whipping you into shape. You’ll meet the team.’ We could not resist. He had pinwheels for pupils.”
How to Pull a Coin Out of an Ear, Daniel Galef
“‘You can’t get something for nothing.’ Billings was on the computer next to Bunkum. His laminated name tag said ‘Billings.’ They’d never met. ‘I know that,’ said Bunkum. ‘It’s magic.’ ‘Stage magic,’ he said, so Billings wouldn’t think he was the kind of library wacko who believed in real magic. ‘You’re a kind of library wacko,’ said Billings.”
Throw Yourself Across the Earth, Amanda Chiado
“I was trying to Snapchat the mustard flowers, wild poppies— / Yet, the world smashed dark & echoes of metal / Folded into swans, flew through my head. I was / wearing new lipstick, a rusty red. I’d just shaved my legs.”