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@crowkeys.bsky.social

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Seeking the wonderful and the bizarre, the beautiful and the dark. Home to all things dark and lovely. crowcrosskeys@gmail.com EIC: @keychild.bsky.social (she/her) https://linktr.ee/crowcrosskeys

An excerpt from poem, The town below the surface by Devanshee Soni published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a textured surface with a dripping line of rust. The excerpt reads: My house is there, beneath the boulder of hell, where the stars hum like dingy lanterns, and I must return before dusk—to the rust on the flowers, to the knives in the door locks, to the bed woven like a carapace.
A muted greyscale banner for poem, The town below the surface by Devanshee Soni published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a textured surface with a dripping line of rust.
An excerpt from reprinted flash fiction, The Lake House by Keith Hoerner published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring refractions in water. The excerpt reads: Deep below the lake’s murky surface, there sits—intact—a house. A two-story structure of Carpenter Gothic details like elaborate wooden trim bloated to bursting. Its front yard: purple loosestrife. Its inhabitants: alligator gar, bull trout, and pupfish.
A muted greyscale banner for reprinted flash fiction, The Lake House by Keith Hoerner published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring refractions in water.
An excerpt from poem, Quintessence by Özge Lena published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a photograph of a plume of smoke. The excerpt reads: The air is collapsing, the water is always filtered, the earth is left fallow forever, and the fire is already here, hunting for us.
A muted greyscale banner for poem, Quintessence by Özge Lena published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a photograph of a plume of smoke.
An excerpt from short story, The Girl With Stars in Her Eyes by Lesley McKenna published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a macro shot of an eye overlaid with an image of a galaxy. The excerpt reads: Ever since she was a little girl, Izzie has been obsessed with watching the stars. There’s something about the lights in the sky that fascinates her, that takes her to wondrous worlds she can only imagine, away from real life and all its attendant problems. She has learned the constellations, and all the stars that make them. She has watched their cycles, and studied their stories. Recently, she has begun to hear them. And to speak with them.
A muted greyscale banner for short story, The Girl With Stars in Her Eyes by Lesley McKenna published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a macro shot of an eye overlaid with an image of a galaxy.
An excerpt from flash fiction, Hellcat, They Call You by James Montgomery published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring tarot cards, sage and other mystical accoutrements. The excerpt reads: There, the foreshadowed visitor approaches, through the moorland’s bracken and gorse. Mark the woman’s billowing silk; the kind more used to palmistry as parlour entertainment. ‘Please,’ she begs. ‘My son’s fate. I must know.’
A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, Hellcat, They Call You by James Montgomery published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring tarot cards, sage and other mystical accoutrements.
An excerpt from poem, Porcelain Weather by Nas Jolaade published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a shallow depth of field photograph of a cup resting on a table with steam rising from it. The excerpt reads: the café breathed in low machinery—grinders worrying the morning, kettles clearing their throats. outside, rain pressed its small signatures against the window. one table away, a boy unfastened a sentence from his mouth and set it down between himself and his father.
A muted greyscale banner for poem, Porcelain Weather by Nas Jolaade published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a shallow depth of field photograph of a cup resting on a table with steam rising from it.
An excerpt from short story, Robbed by Jordyn Damato published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a close up of a woman lighting a cigarette. The excerpt reads: Q: A: So I stopped and lit up a cigarette, sat on the bench. Berb—the owner—doesn’t like when I do that ’cause she thinks it gives the place the wrong impression, but really, who cares about the lonely almost-thirty year old having a quick smoke? No one’s going there for anything besides a burger and a beer. Or the ravioli.
A muted greyscale banner for short story, Robbed by Jordyn Damato published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a close up of a woman lighting a cigarette.
An excerpt from flash fiction, There's a Light On in the Murder House by Elle Symonds published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a house at night with a light on in one window. The excerpt reads: Slowly, I climb down the ladder from the top bunk. The bottom step creaks as always, but James doesn’t notice, just continues to snore softly below. I part the curtains, peek through. There’s a light on in the murder house, for the first time in five years.
A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, There's a Light On in the Murder House by Elle Symonds published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a house at night with a light on in one window.
An excerpt from poem, Spellwork by Amanda Adreienne Smith published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring plaited hair and a leaf crown on a light background. The excerpt reads: There are men who make you look at the moon. I have to look at him. He’s the moon braiding my hair.
A muted greyscale banner for poem, Spellwork by Amanda Adreienne Smith published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring plaited hair and a leaf crown on a light background.
An excerpt from short story, No Children by A. M. Larouche published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a close-up photograph of dew-covered grass. The excerpt reads: Loam pillowed Emma’s head, her ear pressed to the mouth of Catherine’s grave, waiting for it to speak. Her fingers traced the stone marker—Catherine Darby of Essex, 1823–1858, A Loving Wife—and curled into the ruptured grass, thumb squeaking along the ridges of each blade; her shoulder settled into the mould it had spent thirteen nights carving. Her dress and petticoats, sticky with autumn rain, coiled around her calves like corpse flesh.
A muted greyscale banner for short story, No Children by A. M. Larouche published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a close-up photograph of dew-covered grass.
An excerpt from flash fiction, Liminal by R.W. Owen published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a long-exposure of a road at night with light trails running down it. The excerpt reads: In other dreams, your Pacer rides along a county road, north by the state line, reeds pressing close on each side, reaching impossibly high into a monochromatic sky lit by the moon and its stars. In those dreams, Camila cries. She cannot see you. She’s searching the fields for your abandoned shoe, the glint of your bracelet in the headlights, some hint on which she can hang her hope that they’ll one day find the rest of you.
A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, Liminal by R.W. Owen published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a long-exposure of a road at night with light trails running down it.
An excerpt from poem, Mermaid at the Corner Market by Nonbeaunary published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a mermaid tail in shallow water. The excerpt reads: I know our fingers met in the middle of the grotto On a moonless night beneath the dock And you spoke slow, gills fluttering: “Don’t Worry About Me”
A muted greyscale banner for poem, Mermaid at the Corner Market by Nonbeaunary published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a mermaid tail in shallow water.
An excerpt from short story, Making a House a Home by Katherine Lynch published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a fox in shallow depth of field. The excerpt reads: She begins leaving food on the back doorstep for the foxes, leftovers from dinners she eats less and less of. ‘We shouldn’t be encouraging them to come so close to the house, they’re wild at this time of year.’ ‘They’re always wild; they’re wild animals.’ ‘Yes, but they get more aggressive during mating season, the males especially. I read that somewhere.’
A muted greyscale banner for short story, Making a House a Home by Katherine Lynch published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a fox in shallow depth of field.
An excerpt from flash fiction, Vestiges by Carolyn R. Russell published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring rumpled bedding and check sheets over a white mattress. The excerpt reads: I tuck the twins tightly into the bed, pinning them like butterflies against the mattress with the scratchy blue motel blanket I’d found in the closet. I try not to think about its moth holes and tea-colored stains. Under ordinary circumstances, I’d never allow anything so foul to touch my daughters.
A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, Vestiges by Carolyn R. Russell published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring rumpled bedding and check sheets over a white mattress.
An excerpt from poem, Relativity by Anika Tenneti published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a macro photograph of skin texture overlaid with an image of a nebula. The excerpt reads: The passing days snip at your hems, letting dust billow into nebulas, breaths of fresher air. You stream into the wrinkles of an old woman’s face, etched in the night sky as the first mother of every newborn. These contrails bring you home.
A muted greyscale banner for poem, Relativity by Anika Tenneti published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a macro photograph of skin texture overlaid with an image of a nebula.
An excerpt from short story, Thalissa by N. B. Carlson published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a conch shell in seafoam. The excerpt reads: She picks up the shell beside her, one of a thousand scattered along the coast. It’s pink and speckled and, when she puts it to her ear, she hears more than the swooshing of the waves. She hears a voice. Wistful in its solo, alone in the shell, it sings its own song.
A muted greyscale banner for short story, Thalissa by N. B. Carlson published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a conch shell in seafoam.
An excerpt from flash fiction, The Sky by Rachel M. Hollis published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a cloudy sky. The excerpt reads: The children stand outside, eyes upward, buckets out. Waiting for another gift from the sky. Last week it was tulips. The week before—baby teeth.
A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, The Sky by Rachel M. Hollis published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a cloudy sky.
An excerpt from poem, Omens by Karen McCarthy published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a (formerly) yellow bird perched amongst slim branches. The excerpt reads: A yellow bird crossed my path three days running while I walked along the razor line between past and future
A muted greyscale banner for two poems by Karen McCarthy, "Omens" and "Betty Parris and Abigail Williams Chase the Future, December 18, 1691" published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a (formerly) yellow bird perched amongst slim branches.
An excerpt from short story, Hunger Fills A Hole by Rosemary Melchior published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring an eerie feminine face rising out of a body of water, only visible up to the eyes. The excerpt reads: The swamp is too still. Sunlight drapes across the surface. Fallow lifts her head into the air and licks the bright green algae from her lips as she looks around. The frogs are quiet, the fish and the insects too; her tail is the only movement, twitching deep in the stagnant water. The swamp is waiting, she knows. It needs to be fed.
A muted greyscale banner for short story, Hunger Fills A Hole by Rosemary Melchior published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring an eerie feminine face rising out of a body of water, only visible up to the eyes.
An excerpt from flash fiction, Ortolan Bunting by Juniper White published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring an ortolan perched on a rock. The excerpt reads: "My lady hates for me to watch her eat,” says the vampire’s lover to the fox woman. The rising moon sits cut in half, like a lemon ready to be squeezed. The shingles of the roof dig into her ass. Her dress, with its ruffles and long hems and flowing sleeves, is tucked carefully around her, miraculously undamaged from the climb up. She’s eating potato chips.
A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, Ortolan Bunting by Juniper White published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring an ortolan perched on a rock.
An excerpt from poem, midnight love stories for girls fishing by Jane Ayres published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring an abstract image evoking light, trees and water. The excerpt reads: this house moving like a slick fox all the purples mourning it holds voices honeycombed words like a dream deferred
A muted greyscale banner for poem, midnight love stories for girls fishing by Jane Ayres published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring an abstract image evoking light, trees and water.
An excerpt from short story, Beast by L.M. Conkling published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring fog rolling down forested mountainside. The excerpt reads: Fog roiled down the mountains with the same bubbling tenacity of a wave cresting the shore. Except this fog was showing up during one of the hottest days of the year. And it was too dark, almost forest green at its depths. Amber didn’t like it.
A muted greyscale banner for short story, Beast by L.M. Conkling published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring fog rolling down forested mountainside.
An excerpt from flash fiction, Variations on an Angel by An Mu published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a smattering of white feathers against a dark background. The excerpt reads: Outside, there is nothing but dark blue and purple, splinters of silvery white. Then, the angel comes, in a long robe, with feather wings. The wall turns soft and porous as it approaches. I close my eyes.
A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, Variations on an Angel by An Mu published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a smattering of white feathers against a dark background.
An excerpt from poem, "Riverlord" by Anna Madden published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a close-up of tangled branches overlayed with a blurred eclipse. The excerpt reads: Falling in love isn’t an ending to a story, and she is no damselfly: not pretty nor delicate and foldable. She wanders through a forest-city grown for brighter days, without eclipses.
A muted greyscale banner for three poems by Anna Madden published on crowcrosskeys.com, "A Snapdragon's Kiss", "Riverlord", and "How the Wind and Rain Were Separated", featuring a close-up of tangled branches overlayed with a blurred eclipse.
An excerpt from short story, Bright Sharp Smiles by Sophia Krich-Brinton published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a large tooth growing from a plant. The excerpt reads: I planted my first teeth when I was seven and twitchy with excitement, the sisters watching silently behind me. Two baby teeth fallen from my own mouth, carefully saved, placed into a hole I’d scraped into the dry garden. I covered them over with my palms and patted it down nice and firm. “Well done,” a sister whispered. I didn’t look up. They didn’t like it when we looked at them.
A muted greyscale banner for short story, Bright Sharp Smiles by Sophia Krich-Brinton published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a large tooth growing from a plant.
An excerpt from flash fiction, Gaia's Lot by JJ Stewart published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a solar eclipse amidst wispy clouds. The excerpt reads: The moon eclipsed the sun, swallowing it until its edges burned. A blanket of shadow ran along the ocean, and in a minute everything was in darkness. Pinprick stars dotted the sky. Before too long, the moon passed, and the sun set into the west. Having bore witness, the embers expired.
A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, Gaia's Lot by JJ Stewart published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a solar eclipse amidst wispy clouds.
An excerpt from poem, Lost On A Forever Sea by Dan Fitzgerald published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a lone boat sailing on a still, starlit sea. The excerpt reads: I am lost on a forever sea where the ghost of ancient mariners wander, looking for a shore they could not find when they were alive.
A muted greyscale banner for two poems by Dan Fitzgerald, Lost On A Forever Sea and Zen Sea, published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a lone boat sailing on a still, starlit sea.
An excerpt from short story, The Last Nail by Anna Brinkerhoff published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a macro shot of an iron nail embedded in wood. The excerpt reads: The last nail snaps. I drop the shovel, my heart pounding as I kneel once more, resting bloodied hands on the rough casket edge. And that’s when I can hear it. A somnolent murmur. A moan.
A muted greyscale banner for short story, The Last Nail by Anna Brinkerhoff published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a macro shot of an iron nail embedded in wood.
An excerpt from micro fiction, Insomnia by Lena Kinder published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a white cat with half its face in shadow against a dark background. The excerpt reads: Sometimes, in the mornings, you find white fur on your tongue. You imagine this cat luminous and small, a tiny moon sprinting in your body, a fluffy spirit awakened by the witching hour.
A muted greyscale banner for micro fiction, Insomnia by Lena Kinder published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a white cat with half its face in shadow against a dark background.