Joe Swanson

“Dear Chelsea” by Joe Swanson

Thought I should write and let you know why I won’t be attending our school reunion this fall. 9-11 has always been one of those days that reminds me of the time we thought jalapeno peppers were those funny looking tomatoes that are supposed to be used for sauce. I’m not sure I any longer have taste buds, but then life is rarely what we perceive it to be. I don’t know who chose that date, perhaps someone ignorant, or possibly for its convenience, but it seems somehow inappropriate to celebrate or torture oneself on that day, and I ...

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“Miss Representation” by Joe Swanson

“Have you ever been here before?”“No dear. I’ve always wanted to come for years, but you know how life is. You keep putting things off until…well when George passed, he wasn’t much for art or museums, he’d rather go to a ball game or car race. Me, I hated the noise and the crowds, just too many people. These places are more intimate. I enjoy the history, thinking back what it must have been like to be living in a sod hut on the prairie or in a tree, so you wouldn’t become somethings lunch. Maybe I make too big a...

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“Explained” by Joe Swanson

Explain“Can you explain this to me?”When angry, he pretends to be someone he is not. He doesn’t know how to get angry. It isn’t his fault. Our mother was a saint, our father, wasn’t.It could have been he inherited his inability to become angry from my mother, or he realized because of my father’s reaction to about everything, he didn’t want to be like him. If I had to find a reason for his unwavering placidity, I would venture a guess that it was a combination of the two. A learning experience that alters your outloo...

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“Dare to Remember” by Joe Swanson

The thought of being dared, dragged me back to the purposely forgotten time of childhood. The bus rides to school, the long slow walk towards the back, following that black rubber tongue licking the orange ribbed metal floor that led towards the one known as, “Larry.”Larry was a girl who grew abnormally large for her age. Her name was actually Loraine, but no one dared call her that. She demanded to be called Larry for some unknown reason; no one dared to ask. She was the referenced, "get out of bed on the wrong side," ty...

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“Lying to Yourself” by Joe Swanson

for good reason.They, by they I mean everybody that has ever given me advice, told me to believe in myself. If I don’t, no one else will. They say it is the one factor I need obtain if I wish to be a success, or be content to accept inevitable failure. What a terrible scenario, and yet I know there is truth in what they say. I believe they even mean well. But then they don’t know me. It is just another one of those collective feel-good statements that gets repeated over and over until it become true.I know there are ...

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“The Truth About a Lie,” by Joe Swanson

The lie about truth,where does one even begin to slip beneath the secrecy that masquerades itself as truth. Lies are assumed to be overt distortions of words or actions, that like a sleight of hand, directing your attention one way, while deception is applied with the other. Most magicians are not liars. However, they are promoters of self-disillusionment. A common ailment of the day, which can’t apparently be cured, because it has its roots in truth but its visibility is replicated in plastic. Woody Guthrie once sai...

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“Cyanide Punch” by Joe Swanson

“She is toxic. She is a piranha; show any signs of weakness and she’ll attack. Don’t think your immune from the poison, there is no bubble that exists she won’t invade and lay waste too.” “Why is she like that? I’ve known others who are particular about how things are done. Believe only they have the one way to do something, but no one as controlling as you claim she is. I guess I haven’t experienced first hand the retributive nature you describe. Do you think it could have something to do with being a woman in ...

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“Nothing Is Revealed” by Joe Swanson

“Would you mind stepping this way.” “Are you sure it’s safe? I remember reading this article in the paper about this guy who thought he was getting into an elevator, but the floor of the elevator was missing. Does that happen often here?” Oh God, not another one of those days. Pretending to understand, be engaged, empathetic to a cause that I know will one day end, in me looking for the elevator with no floor. Fritz has taught me one thing, don’t take anything for granted, or at face value. Things are not always what they...

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“Super-Sized” by Joe Swanson

I believed at first, it was luck. His prophetic insistencies were irritating. I had no way to prove or disprove his predictions, but I know, that no one can see the future. I’ve heard all about the Déjà vu types, but I can only attribute that to tricks, playing mind games with people. All magic is the same. Your vulnerabilities are exploited by your need to believe, especially when, the predictions are favorable. But this was different. Maybe because I don’t know any palm readers or clairvoyants personally. ...

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“Blinded By Sight” by Joe Swanson

Blinded by Sight There is something about being blind, even if for only a few days, well a week. The explosion, the flash, something, no one is entirely sure, triggered something in my mind that shut down my ability to see. It wasn’t that I was physically impacted, like being hit by something, but I remember the flash. I’d had bright lights shined in my eyes before, flashes from cameras, strobes at a concert, but nothing remotely close to the impact of the explosions flash.  Some people that stopped by the hospital asked how...

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“King of the Road” by Joe Swanson

“You see that guy over there. The one with the bowler hat, and that shirt with Buggs Bunny and Porky Pig on it. He says he a King from someplace. Wouldn’t say where. Do you think he looks like a King. He don’t look like one to me.” “You had too much to drink. Everyone should look like a King to you. You ask him his name, where he’s from, ask him anything?” “He don’t say much. I talked to him for quite a while, then I realized I was basically talking to myself. Then he says right out of the blue, “...

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“Saddle Up” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #105

Jesse James, Cole Younger, George Armstrong Custer, had brothers, friends, cohorts to play off of. Even Pinocchio had a Jiminy Cricket, I got Bob. Bob is one of those characters, who not only believes there is nothing he can’t or won’t do.  It is because he is the best at everything he does, according to The Book of Bob. Thinking, even knowing sometimes, doesn’t make a wrong a right, or stupid, smart. Bob ain’t figured that out yet.  Bob is a used car salesman; he is the patented descriptive nature of a used car salesman....

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“Knee-deep in Nonsense” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #105

The devil he claims is a friend of his. I know he doesn’t mean that, but then again, maybe he does. I gave up a long time ago attempting to analyze the unanalyzable. I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but then you don’t know Jude. I hope!Jude is one of those people who believe in astrology, stars, moons, horoscopes, and hororscopes. Most people believe in all kinds of things, but not hororscopes. I asked Jude what that even means. I know what a horoscope is; like being mind read by the celestials, who...

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“Hindsight” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #105

When I fell, I thought nothing of it. I’d fallen before. Some would say I was clumsy, some that I should know better. Being old has its advantages, being steady on ones feet is not one of them. Some nice young lady helped me up, picked the things that had fallen from my bag from the sidewalk, and placed them in my bag, and handed it to me with a smile. I thanked her for her kindness and sat on a bench by the street to gather my thoughts. We have a lot of benches here, there are a lot of us old reptiles crawling aroun...

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“Three Times the Charm? ” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #105

“What did you see? Be honest, don’t embellish, we are just trying to get to the truth, we don’t need a novella on this one. Short story version would be best as time is of the essence. The longer it takes to get our questions answered the more likely it will be that something is forgotten, changed, unremembered, or simply in an attempt to impress us, lie. Don’t do that.”Sargent Grimes sat across from three people who would admit to having witnessed the shooting on Mayberry Street. Mayberry Street is one of those areas whe...

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