Insect Dreams

Who knows what
poems he fashions
in the darkness
of a senseless life?

— Kij Johnson, short story "Mantis Wives" in Clarkesworld, nominated for Hugo and Locus awards for best short story

Her Skin

Skin
               faint
       as
refrigerator light.

— Adam Johnson, short story "Nirvana" in Esquire's August 2013 issue

Strange Fruit

Crows gather in a tree
barren of leaves
and make its branches
appear heavy
with some black,
poisonous fruit.

— Benjamin Percy, "Red Moon"

As Is

You're going to be as good as new.

New was never all that good, he said.

— Megan Mayhew Bergman, from the title story from her collection "Birds of a Lesser Paradise"

Luggage

His suitcase
yawns

open
on the floor.

— Benjamin Percy, "Red Moon"

Haiku for thought

Robert Hass reads translations of haiku.

Selected Haiku by Issa : Poetry Everywhere : Video : The Poetry Foundation

Cool-looking authors No. 54

Raymond Carver, a master of the short story

Photo by Marion Ettlinger

Vision

Owing to her large, wide-open dark eyes
she had an air of permanent surprise.

— Ilya Lyashevsky, short story "Tennie" in Bull No. 2

Mother's Eyes

His mother's eyes,
intimate but
untouchable,

were the blue
of great distances
after sunset.

— Flannery O'Connor short story "The Comforts of Home"

Calm

Even when

the wind

           blows,

the water

does not 

          ripple.

— Collin Kelley, novel "Conquering Venus"