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I. The raccoonwas early,before the crowded treesheld only warblersand the nattering of squirrelspummeled the lake in glancingdives, giving the grebes what for. Thenthere were still tanagers, voicingtheir globed remote golds when slywinds smoothed back the beech leavesand the squirrels were less feckless,cobbing their cones of pine in silentcovertness, near stumpsContinue Reading

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The Dandies dream of velvet top hats & monocles dangling from golden chains with their hands stuffed in their pockets & piles of candy wrappers on their bedside tables / Pocket watches unwind themselves inside the forest of waistcoats that line their walk-in closet / The chairwoman of the decorationContinue Reading

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Susan P. Blevins, an ex-pat Brit, lived in Italy for twenty-six years, traveled the world extensively, and has now settled in Houston, Texas, where she is enjoying writing stories and poems based on her travels and adventures. She had a weekly column on food in a European newspaper while livingContinue Reading

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The great silverbackpresses his haunches to the glass,unfazed, chewing,the amazed faces of childrena natural part of his terrain. The children line the belledviewing spacelike a chattering fringeof tropical primate.They are easily reverent,nudging, elbowingonly to alerttheir fellows toa fascinating monkclimbing the realcrenelated trunksor combing real mitesfrom a crony’scoarse coat. All adultsContinue Reading

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The Dandies’ first Christmas in Peacock Lane was the year the decorations came to life / The elves were the first to turn against their homes & scale attached garages & chain linked fences / They chanted dark poetry from the wires around their mouths / Reindeer who used toContinue Reading

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Susan P. Blevins, an ex-pat Brit, lived in Italy for twenty-six years, traveled the world extensively, and has now settled in Houston, Texas, where she is enjoying writing stories and poems based on her travels and adventures. She had a weekly column on food in a European newspaper while livingContinue Reading

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What changed my life one day was that I heardwhat happened one hundred ten years agofrom one who owed her being to a bird. Your first reaction hearing this: absurd,right? How could that be, and how could she know?I was suspicious too until I heard about the village razed, survivorsContinue Reading

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The Dandies bought the house from a nice goth couple who just couldn’t with Mrs. Peacock Lane / Her campaign against them also began on move-in day & they both worked so hard at keeping up their own appearances the decoration subcommittee took advantage of their missing cats to poisonContinue Reading

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[Written in shifting text that bleeds between languages]ENTRY 1: THE TRANSFORMATIONWhen the books first gained consciousness, we thought it was a miracle. Then the card catalog started prophesying. Then the Dewey Decimal System achieved sentience. Now the library breathes.The walls pulse with plot lines. Stories seep through ceiling tiles. GenreContinue Reading

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The boy’s family were gone, taken by the great Sickness. The brothers at the Abbey took him in. They were gentle souls, but they were old and serious men, their days set firm in routine: rising before dawn; prayer; rounds of chores; prayer; more chores; prayers; bed. They spoke oftenContinue Reading