Joe Glocke

“She's Outside the Tent” by Joe Glocke

Submitted to Contest #58

"It's still looking pretty gnarly out there," said my brother, his face plastered to the living room window. The sky was lightening up, as if the storm had passed, but it was still casting our house in a dark emerald glow. A round of thunder from far away startled Oscar out of his kitty slumber. He looked at me and I scratched behind his ears. "What did I say?" called dad from the kitchen. "Get away from the window, Danny."  Dad had just come in from his workshop and was wringing out his Brewers baseball cap in the sink. Danny t...

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“The Sun Went Down Some Time Ago” by Joe Glocke

Submitted to Contest #37

The sun went down some time ago. I can’t remember when.I'm always nervous, but this fire is warm.There were poplar trees beyond the camp before. Now there are shadows in the twilight. The tree limbs creak as they bend to the wind and some reach down to tickle my tent. I hope they’re still tree limbs.There are things out there, snapping twigs and shifting the darkness, but for now they're at bay. I’ll stay by the fire. I'll be alright.To pass the time I sit on this log and think about home. The white farmhouse with the red barn at the en...

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“Drifting” by Joe Glocke

Submitted to Contest #8

I’ve been drifting through space for a long time. A few hundred years, maybe. I’ve come to think of it as an openness, an unknowable gap. In a moment, this will end.I was a young man, maybe in my early twenties, when the company assigned me to a system of telescopes orbiting Earth called the ASTRO-2. They monitored classified information which was never revealed to me. Its observatory required mission and payload specialists to control operations. I was paired with astronaut Devon Pine and together we were assigned a mission to upgrade its U...

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“The Sun Went Down Some Time Ago” by Joe Glocke

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #7

The sun went down some time ago, I can’t remember when. I'm still nervous, but the fire is warm. The woods beyond the campsite is reduced to shadows against the twilight. Black limbs creak, whispering to me in the wind and tickling my tent. There are things out there, snapping twigs and shifting the darkness, but for now they're at bay. The fire keeps them away. Nothing enters its circle of light. If I stay near the fire, I'll be alright. I'll sit here on my log and think about the white farmhouse with the red barn at the end of the green pa...

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“Sawdust” by Joe Glocke

Submitted to Contest #5

Ralph was beginning to think that his desk wasn't made of real wood. It looked like wood, but he thought it might be a piece of plastic with a wood grain pattern stuck to some cheap particle board. Now that he thought about it, everything on his desk was made with plastic. His computer monitor, the speakerphone, his latest "ship-it" trophy, and the picture frame of his -- Someone knocked on his door. Without windows in his office, Ralph had no idea who this could be. No one was supposed to come by today. He needed to submit his expense repor...

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“The Sun Went Down Some Time Ago” by Joe Glocke

I'm OK. The fire is warm and safe. The sun went down some time ago, I don't know when.The woods beyond is dark against the twilight. Black tree limbs bend over me, whispering in the wind and tickling at the surface of my tent.Something's moving in the darkness.Stay near the fire. I'll be alright.Think about the white farmhouse with the red barn at the end of the green pasture. Devon and Douglas are in there.In the morning light I'll move on, keeping the eastern sun on my right ear. It will lead me back. It has to.For now, I'll let the fire k...

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