“A Village” by Ken Poyner
“Good news greets Quibble’s return: his wife has conceived.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
Author: The Metaworker
We are The Metaworker, an online literary magazine where great stories are forged.
Our mission is to publish great things to read. Send us the stuff you don’t think will be published anywhere else. We want new ideas, words that make us ponder, narratives that upend stereotypes. We don’t care if you’re an established writer or someone who’s never been published before, if you're a student or returning to writing after a career in something else, if you're 16 or 80, if you live in the United States, in India, in New Zealand, in Mexico – if you’ve got something you think needs to be shared with the world, submit it to us!
We publish prose, poetry, art, and more on our website every Monday at noon PST, plus we sometimes post fun extras (like our podcast episodes) on Wednesdays or Fridays.
“Powerless” by Storm Lomax
“My little brother had shown early signs, spitting up fire with his baby food. My parents were
covered in small burns for the first few years but I’d never seen them so happy.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Predictable Recklessness” by Ace Boggess
“When the desk guard told him to report to medical, Cobb was dressed to go, his flimsy khaki shirt tucked neatly into his khaki pants, his sneakers—the good white ones he ordered from an inmate catalogue—laced, his prisoner ID card already in hand.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Futile Wars” by Russell Willis
poetry by Russell Willis
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For Thea by Linda Lacy
Nate turns me toward him, my round belly the bumper between us, his brown eyes plead with me. “Everyone has evacuated. We have to go now. Please.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“City of Gold” by B. C. Nance
“I lived here when the comet struck,” he said, raising his voice, “and I lost my Nellie when the rain of molten gold came down.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“New Year’s Day” by Sharon Y. Sim
Microfiction by Sharon Y. Sim
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“Detour” by W. Barrett Munn
“There is Juan Valdez sweat and mule shit / in the bottom of my cup.” #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
Microfiction by Corey Bryan
Three Microfictions by Corey Bryan @pip_prompts #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Clockwork” by Paul Rabinowitz
At that moment, my internal gears pushed against the wall of my chest and like clockwork an alarm went off so instead of sitting alone, content with my coq au vin, I was confronted with the desire to know more about you… #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Murder in the Dark” by F. J. Bergmann
She came out of the woods with nothing but a blanket sprayed with white and silver paint #F. J. Bergmann #TheMetaworker
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“Andropov’s Dance” by Robin Wyatt Dunn
“The river of silence passes through the large classroom trough, its charcoal sides soft and cool to the touch.”
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“Beauty Defined” by Alexis Watson
“Your autumn red curls, wrapped in Nigerian print, crowned your head like royalty. Africa hung from your earlobes, swayed in pride.”
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“Game of Interludes” by Patricia Ann Bowen
“He told me how the image of that clear cold gin sliding past my red lips and down my throat had driven him nearly mad with desire.”
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Lives of Dust and Ashes by Marie-Louise McGuinness
“The bang came afterwards, as if the earth had just regained consciousness and gravity returned with violent force.”
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“Hypnagogue” by F.J. Bergmann
The moons of twenty-eight yesterdaysare strung across silent twilight,a pearl necklace on the plump blue throat of a cyanotic stillborn prepared for burial. Under the phasing …
“American Arcana: That Lone Harpy of Appalachia” by Kate Shannon
around these parts, you’d hear about trail angels, their wings spread between those parched white blazes. offering plenty and good.take your rest beneath their wings, …
“How to Unflap a Flapper” by Leslie Cairns
Step 1: Take your shorn hair, barrette the sides with glimmer, the way you want to be a mermaid, tails extended, breaking hearts with the …
“Deer Hunt” by Sylvia Cumming
I’ve put the sign on the door for a reason: “Day sleeper, don’t ring or knock,” but the doorbell rings anyway, just when I’m dozing …
The Metaworker Podcast | 015 The Borderland Furies by Oisín Breen
Episode Description: Matthew, Elena, and Mel talk with Oisín Breen about his poem “The Borderland Furies” and about his new book of poetry, Lillies on …
“Ennui” by Alexander Lazarus Wolff
The sun peers down from above, spilling light on the ground; the clouds hang haloedby a fading gold. Daylight’s verve recedes as the purpling sky …
“floating away; on a vessel long derelict” by Kate Shannon
if you are listening, I am here, wracked with a Martian longing dreaming of stowaway spiders who would weave sickly webs over semi-important fixtures: reviled queen who presides …
The Metaworker Podcast | 014 In the Willow Garden by Isabel O’Hara Walsh
Episode Description: Matthew, Elena, Mel, and Cerid talk with Isabel O’Hara Walsh about her short fiction piece “In the Willow Garden”. Content Warning: We discuss …
“The Missing Piece” by Jeremy Decker
A piece was missing. It was a puzzle print of George Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte laid out on …
“Gearshift” by Patrick R. Wilson
The car, an older gas-powered Lincoln, rolled up smoothly, making no splash in the curbside puddle. Driver’s face (human, of course, the Others could operate …
“In All the Weightless World” by Mark L. Anderson
The woman at the cafe was out of breath as she sat in the window seat looking through the early night at the few groups …
“The Furrowing” by Julie Allyn Johnson
I asked about her yearnings, her desires, as I suspected they might, perhaps, mesh with my own. It was worth a try, an attempt at some sort of shared, miraculous
camaraderie.
Microfiction by Doug Jacquier
DetourmentiaIt began with her putting the kettle in the fridge and calling everybody ‘darling’ because shecouldn’t remember their names. Then she copied the young women’s …
“Sorry Sir, I’m Not the Man You’re Looking For” by Stella Meadows
The only word I understand is monsieur. A sling of unintelligible French blindsides me as I walk down the street; and though I have no …
“Masquerade” by Kevin Hopson
“What are we waiting for?” Chris asked, staring at me from the passenger seat of the car. I shifted in the driver’s seat. “Lorenzo told …
“Things We Live Inside” by Liza Olson
I’m making a video game for you to live inside, since you can’t live inside the world anymore. I’ve never made a game before, so …
Holiday Hiatus
Hey folks! It’s the editor-in-chief Matthew Maichen. This won’t be a long post. We’ve had a great 2022, and everything that we’ve published has been …
“Pink Sneakers” by Maggie Nerz Iribarne
The woman passes every day with her pink sneakers and floral running pants and cute son in a navy uniform. The son talks a blue …
“Older Brother” by Robin Wyatt Dunn
“Older brother?” “Not now, I’m busy.” The papers shuffled make a noise like a river on a bank. “Older brother?” “What is it?” “Nothing.” Outside …
“crickets, tell me that” by April Yu
the night has not stolen the taste and shape of my grass-drowned flesh. after all, your croaks already drink the air from my lungs until …
“Unsettled Cemetery Dust” by Em Dietrich
In a house, in a heart, a demon lurked. The girl found it in her dead brother’s skull buried in the backyard. She looked into …
“Last Meal” by Jason Brightwell
Tomorrow is too late. I’ve been listeningto the ground lick its lips, laying plans to closeon your heart. To beat the earth, brown batter, to bake …
“The Refusal” by Lock Howe
Lock Howe grew up in rural Tennessee in a conservative, Baptist area. Raised atheist and liberal, Lock struggled with feelings of isolation and confusion, themes …
“Blowing Out Candles” by Daniel Romo
For Devan Daniel Romo is the author of Bum Knees and Grieving Sunsets (FlowerSong Press 2023), Moonlighting as an Avalanche (Tebot Bach 2021), Apologies in …
“Hares to Hounds” by Marco Etheridge
The boy feigns sleep, but he is ready to spring. Two children stalk his bed, dark-light-girl-boy, clad in spring-green and ochre, barefoot both. The boy …
“The Last Nights of Sisterhood” by E.B. Cotenord
On my sister’s 21st birthday, I visited her at the Cook County Jail. Looking back, I wish I hadn’t been so annoyed to see her …
“Beautiful Grief” by Jason Brightwell
You wore your grey fate perfectly—laughter, golden touch. It was a show, of course. Even as tiny hope waved over private blue melancolia, it stirred up a sludge,lingering …
“Sacrifice” by Lock Howe
Lock Howe grew up in rural Tennessee in a conservative, Baptist area. Raised atheist and liberal, Lock struggled with feelings of isolation and confusion, themes …
“The Scream” by Nikola Sojka
I want to scream until my voice blistersAround the hot cinders of the words I spitI burn out next to the Sun and SisterWhere my …
“The Gift” by E.B. Cotenord
Trigger Warning: sexual themes and abuse In my career as a sex worker, I accept gifts with poise and grace. It’s an odd twist in …
“Tangled” by Gary Carr
When I think about it, none of this would have happened if Roger weren’t such a slob. After Roger left for the gym, I decided …
“On Visiting My Dear Friend” by Martina Reisz Newberry
You and I will read our ways into the eternal whatever—questioning, wondering, wandering under skies grown gray with concern or maybe apathy. We’ll play outside until the streetlights …
“Heavy Boots on a Sunday Morning” by Lea Murray
The Mother sifts through the soil, searching. Using her fingers like a sieve, she tries to find the thin filament sprouts in the mulch and …
“Dorset” by J.R. Barner
The most beautiful woman my father had ever seen, Except, he kept insisting, my mother, of course, Hailed from Grimstone, Stratton parish, in Dorset. So, …
“Fury from the Skies” by Erin Swann
There’s a distinct scent to the air right before a Firestorm breaks: acrid and sulfuric, with a touch of sweet smoke. It manifests moments before …
“Seeking” by Pearce Green
my youth has drooped, the trees in the forest too.beard grown thick, wet the bed black;death calls our names alphabetically,the rooster still crows in the …
“Ctrl+Z” by Deborah-Zenha Adams
(+_+)? A decade lost your last message sprang back to life today :O unwittingly resuscitated by a software upgrade. : – ) Happy Thursday! Such a great….xD …laughed so …
“The Message Sent Through The Stars” by Catherine Yeates
The sky is bigger in Texas. The trees in the Midwest loomed large, stretching their branches upward and forming green canopies that provided shelter. But …
“Blueblack Pier” by Robin Wyatt Dunn
Sometimes I come out here to think—I’m tempted to say “about death,” but that isn’t socially acceptable, and not quite true. Not even death’s cousin, …
“A Danish Summer Night Spent With My Ghost” by Adam Curt Custock
It’s a blue-lit Danish summer night; the calendar is nearing summer solstice; birds are singing at the ungodly hour of 3 AM. Pt. 1 blue lightblue …
“Out of Body” by Liza Olson
I am lying flat on the ground in a quiet living room in a quiet home in the kind of quiet suburb everyone’s at least …
Three Microfictions by Ashley McCurry
My Friends and I Started Having Premonitions About Future Lovers Sonia dreamt of being sawed in half by a mustached magician, rugged steel grinding rosewood …
Five Haikus by Joshua St. Clare
sand dollar the boy buys the moon the ocean chestnut cache the squirrel forgets a forest root cellar Hunger Moon in the bushel baskets Messier …
“What the Wind Brought” by Charles Haddox
When dust rolls in like an eruption and you can hardly see across the street, and everything else (city, mountains, sky) is hidden by a …
“Misplaced Affections” by Sinclaire Dickinson
A golden retriever of a womanjust met and she’s practically sheddingin your lapshe steps away from packing heroverstuffed bagwell-meaning but not seeing boundaries that should …
“Winter Haikus” by Laura Zaino
winter haiku dark lines of sleepingtrees draw stencils in the skyabove pure white ground winter haiku icicles flourishgray clouds linger exactlywhere they are meant to …
“For Them” by Paul Attmere
Since our son was born, you always pull out and cum on your side. I roll onto your side of the bed, still warm and …
The Metaworker Podcast | 013 Ink Runs in Our Veins: Editor Chat Part 3
In this final episode of the special editors chat, Matthew, Elena, Mel and Cerid get personal. They talk about their own writing projects and how they approach their writing, they share what they get up to outside of their fiction lives and to finally wrap things up, they provide a list of great plugs from recent reads they loved.
Three Microfictions by Conor Barnes
The Dongle You thought you were arriving at the train an hour early, but you got the times wrong and happened to get there just …
“Fallen Leaves” by Rhys Lee
Rhys Lee is a Masters candidate at Mount Saint Mary’s University. He has poetry published in The Driftwood at Point Loma Nazarene University. Image
“The Firelets – A Fireside Tale” by Christiana Thomas
The wind howled and tore through the treetops, and our horses, Highland and Orion, crowded together to share their heat, but I was warm and …
“The Last Atlantean” by David Henson
Atlantis Without Birds Marble women in gardens used to reach into the sky and gather birds by the armful. Raindrops brought them down in scores to swallow worms they …
The Metaworker Podcast | 012 Ink Runs in Our Veins: Editor Chat Part 2
Episode Description: Matthew, Elena, Mel, and Cerid talk about how they got into writing and why they are involved in the publishing world, even as …
“The Day in Yellow” by Shelley Davenport
Afternoon. Deep afternoon. Long afternoon. Too deep. Too long. Sylvie in her quilted bed. Try to sleep. Go to sleep. Quickly now! Go to sleep. …
“For Scale” by Daune O’Brien
My mother sayslife is goodshe is happydown sixmaybe seven —- no, eight poundssince catching upto her too-thin sisterwho is losing weight to chemofastand I want …
“Dart Away” by Jamie Spenser
Jamie Spenser‘s poetry has been published in New York Quarterly, Sheila-Na-Gig, and Disappointed Housewife. His outpourings about TV commercial production and the art-rock band Devo …
Microfictions by Ken Poyner
FATE Quibble spends the day imagining what he might do, if he had the opportunity. He scolds himself that most of the things he dreams …
Profile: Jeremy Bock
Jeremy Bock is a West Virginia native and technologist currently expatting Bangkok with his wife and daughter. His novel, Caroline, is independently published and available …
“Layers” by Matthew Freeman
Lots of human brainseventually get to wherethey saynone of this had to bethis way.Other brainsknew all alongthat everything is necessary.It’s sad, though,because so many thingsare …
“Susan” by Holly Day
I stood and watched you sleeping, hadstood there watching for nearly five minutes inthe shadow of the hallway for nearly five minutes of circustime before I …
The Metaworker Podcast | 011 Ink Runs in Our Veins: Editor Chat Part 1
Matthew, Elena, Mel, and new intern Cerid talk about how they fell in love with reading, then move into a history lesson about how The Metaworker got started, and how Mel and Cerid joined the team.
“Arizona” by Zoë Blaylock
Emerging writer Zoë Blaylock was educated in the school of hard knocks and droll encounters but credentialed by Harvard. She works in research/healthcare ethics in …
“Seeds of Racism” by Dave Luker
At dawn, in the distance, a kitchen radio slips commodity prices through a screen door into a farmyard, echoing off the metallic green of a …
“Fireworks” by T.K. Howell
Vincent closed his laptop and stared at the wall. The afterglow of an Excel spreadsheet burned across his retina. He waited for it to fade …
“Mothering” by Jazmine Aluma
It’s the way I pause when I come across Goethe andwhisper the name—Gir-tah.To make sure I still remember how it’s supposed to sound on the tongue. To remind myself it …
Microfiction by Jennifer Novotney
The Art Gallery I pop into the art gallery lined with textured paintings of the seaside. The artist greets me as she works wielding a …
“Swamy” by Ranjit Kulkarni
I sometimes wonder if people are crazy or from some other planet. But I am not complaining. Why should I? Not at all. After all, …
“A Fair Deal” by Jon Kemsley
Featuring original art by Cerid Jones The kid next door had stopped screaming and was now bashing out a single flat note on a toy …
“Shovelling” by Frank William Finney
Hole here. Hole there.No treasure. Not even athud. Days. Nights.So much dirt. Some people askwhat I’m hoping to find. I’m tempted to show themthe tunnels …
“That Damn Selfie” by Laurel Osterkamp
If only Joyce hadn’t taken that damn selfie. Her and Tate, laughing at a truck stop in Mexico, drinking beer with lime, his cotton t-shirt …
“Another Life” by Helen Nancy Meneilly
Helen Nancy Meneilly is an Irish poet whose work explores issues of identity, language, and womanhood. She is currently studying for her MA in Creative …
“Alligators to Ashes” by Margaret S Mandell
Prologue to a Memoir Based on Love Letters to my Dead Husband By Margaret S. Mandell Sunday, December 10, 2017 My Dearest Love: October 2015. …
“A Case for Violins” by Frank William Finney
Pulled from the mouth of the mother tongue. These words are all I carry now. They bend. They crack. They disappear. They hide inside the …
“Fever Dream” by Rebecca M Ross
Rona piles rice from path to porch like snowdrifts sprinkled with crayon colored carrots, peas, corn– until the guardrail disappears under an ever-growing mountain of …
Four Haikus by Constance Mello
When I awake I Like to think about us two Alone forever Sweetest saccharine Inside your mouth I lose my Self hour after hour Diet …
“The Burial Begins Slow” by Robin Wyatt Dunn
The burial begins slow, carrying up the earth over the barrow for the devils, each in turn highing their breath and turning over the gravel, …
“Text Me When You Get Home” by Helen Nancy Meneilly
night falls like a brick. urgent tongue of wind stuck to the back of my neck, hair wrapped around my throat. fist of keys in …
“Inaccessible” by Connie Woodring
I was afraid of my abusive and controlling ex-husband, but I didn’t know this until 10 years after I divorced him. I wrote hidden poems, …
“Lava” by Cameron Morse
From my hurt back the snow-lit predawn sky is pewter, or lava, according to my best guess color chart on Pinterest. “Pewter” works, but I …
“The Arc” by Nath Oddson
From Atlanta to New York City, I went tripping, delivering packages, on buses and trains, stopping—three days—in Cincinnati. There’s the arc. Greyhound issues you an …
“How to Use the Supermarket When You Are Losing Your Mind” by Rebecca M Ross
When in a supermarket in a town not your own do not start screaming “Where are the olives? Where are the fucking olives?” as you …
“Retribution” by Ash Evan Lippert
Ash Evan Lippert is a clay artist and emerging queer poet residing in the South Carolina upstate. Their poetry and fiction center on the exploration …
“What Lay Beneath” by Christine Yount Jones
In the sweltering summer of 1966, I have a kitten who will not cooperate under the Arizona sun that glares at me from its cloudless …