Dakota Smith

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Feb, 2021

Stories (2)

2 Stories

56 karma pts

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“Riley and the Vortex” by Dakota Smith

Submitted to Contest #241

Probably the most unexpected consequence of being cheated on was Riley no longer had anxiety. Before, anxiety had hung over her all the time — less like a cloud, more like a layer of the atmosphere. "But it's just generalized anxiety, and it's not debilitating or anything like that," she'd say to people who hadn't asked, usually after a second glass. The resulting avoidance with which she'd generally approached life was probably why her nephew had asked if Riley was an NPC (video game terminology meaning non-playable character — basically im...

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“By God, The Menu's Edible” by Dakota Smith

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #239

A poem about whether birds could be jealous of dogs. As in, whether a dog can be so good at being a dog, and a bird so bad at being a bird, that the bird looks at the dog and thinks, "We get it, asshole."It was a metaphor. Or, at least, it seemed like a metaphor. Marcella wouldn't have wanted to try and explain it to anyone just yet. But that was the beautiful thing about poetry. She didn't have to. She didn't have to! Ha! The only thing she had to do was make it good. Easier said than done, of course, but from there, the poem woul...

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Author bio

Originally from Texas, currently in NYC. Favorite writers are Elena Ferrante, Lorrie Moore, and Jia Tolentino.

Shortlisted 1 story ⭐️

Contest #239

By God, The Menu's Edible – read story