**Two of my poems were published in Stormcloud Poets: First Anthology

Two of my poems - advent and 415 vista reunion - were published in Stormcloud Poets: First Anthology.  advent  is about the aftermath of a friend's death; 415 vista reunion is about the joy of hanging out with another friend after a long time apart.

Thanks, once again, to editor/author E.S. Wynn (a.k.a. Earl S. Wynn) for including my work in his 136-page poetry collection - it's an honor to work with such an accomplished and inspiring word-conjurer. 

Stormclouds Poets: First Anthology purchase links are here, for its various publishing formats - electronic and hard copy.

When the Shadow Comes

By Chris Milam

Lily crawled into bed, her bare feet and princess pajamas slid under her Barbie adorned blanket. She was stuck in perpetual childhood, an eleven-year old girl in a six-year old mind.   She loved toys too, especially her beloved purple stuffed unicorn.   She grabbed Annie, and pulled the toy in close, resting the plush animal against her soft cheek.

 “Annie, do you remember when mommy took us to the zoo for my eighth birthday?” Lily asked.

 “Of course I do, Lily,” Annie said “You loved the zebras, you said they looked like a horse newspaper.   Your mom laughed so hard I thought she was going to fall down.    That was one of my favorite days.”

 “Mine too,” said Lily “Or the time I scraped my elbow playing hopscotch on the sidewalk.   Do you remember that, Annie?”

 “Yes.  Your mom put a Dora The Explorer band-aid on the cut and kissed it and everything felt better again.  I won’t ever forget our adventures together.”

When the shadow appeared under her bedroom door, darkness hovering over the crack of light, Lily pulled her blanket up to her chin. The knuckles of her fragile hands whitened as she gripped the edge of the pink cover.

 “OK, Lily, it’s time for us to play our game.  What’s your favorite color?” Annie asked.

 “Purple” Lily said, barely above a whisper.

 “That’s such a pretty color.  It’s the same color as me, so I love purple too.  What’s your favorite vegetable?"

 “Carrots.”

 “Mine too” said Annie.  “This is fun Lily.  What about your favorite cartoon? I know you can answer this one, it’s so easy.”

 “I don’t want to play anymore, Annie,” Lily said, her eyes staring at the ceiling.

 “Just for a few more minutes, OK?   Everything will be fine soon, let’s just play a little longer.”

The door knob turned softly and the shadow entered the room, shutting the door gently.

“What’s your favorite candy?” pleaded the purple unicorn.

 Lily continued to stare at the ceiling, thoughts of her mom flooding her mind.

 “Come on Lily, you can do this.  Is your favorite candy Smarties or Lemon Drops, I can’t remember.”

The shadow walked quietly over to the bed and grabbed Annie by her silver horn and tossed her onto the ground.

 Lily glanced at the shadow and quickly looked away, tears leaking down her pale cheeks. She saw Annie upturned on the floor, the unicorns plastic eyes staring back at her.

“Gummy Bears,” Lily whispered to her friend.

“Gummy Bears and zebras are the best things in world.”

 “See, I knew you could do it, Lily” said Annie.  “Just keeping looking at me and remember that day at the zoo, OK?”

 Lily nodded her head.  “I love you, Annie.”

 “I love you more, Lily” Annie said. “Now, can you tell me what your favorite book is?  Can you do that for me?”

 Lily went silent.   Her eyes clamped shut.   She didn’t want to play anymore.

Copyright ©2013 Chris Milam.  All rights reserved.  Do not reproduce in any form, including electronic, without the author’s express permission.

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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Chris Milam currently resides in Hamilton, Ohio. He enjoys writing, rooting for the Washington Nationals and he reads anything he can get his hands on. He believes everybody has a story in them that needs to be told.

**Peter Baltensperger's Far From the Leaking Stars was published on the Pink Litter site

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced this site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: Far From the Leaking Stars, on the Pink Litter site.

Stars details, in sensory-intense fashion, a woman's sexual restlessness while riding on a train with her sleeping lover.  Fans of Baltensperger's previous works won't want to miss his latest microtale.  This work and the site are for adults only.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Two of my erotic poems were published on the Pink Litter site

Two of my erotic poems - Kyoto: chican and Worlds shown, worlds to come - were published on the Pink Litter site. (Big thanks to Misty Rampart, who published it!)

Kyoto: chican sketches a carnal transaction between a school girl-outfitted woman and her client in a Japanese subway-themed club.

Worlds shown, worlds to come is a four-part poem that charts the emotional and sexual journey of a longtime punk couple, from youth to middle age.

Please note that Pink Litter is an adults-only site, so if you're under the age of eighteen you may want to skip these works.

However, if you are a legal adult who appreciates (post)punky attitude, sensuality and poetry, check these poems out!

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Quick publishing history:

Kyoto: chican was originally published on the Erotica Readers & Writers Association site in November 2012.

The second section of Worlds shown. .., titled Worlds to come (terra incognito), and its third section - Our world, pink & black - were also originally published on the Erotica Readers & Writers Association site in September 2001. 

Our world, pink & black was republished on the now-defunct widegrrl.net site in February 2002.

**One of my poems, Habit rip (Abel Ferrara mix), was republished in Smashed Cat

One of my abstract, nervier poems, Habit rip (Abel Ferrara mix), was republished on the Smashed Cat site on September 17th, 2013. (Big thanks to E.S. Wynn, who published it!)

Visually speaking, Habit rip isn't one of my better pieces, but it's different and experimental (for me, anyway) - and it was inspired by the cinematic works of director Abel Ferrara.

Check this poem out!

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This poem originally appeared in one of my single-author anthologies, Almost there: poems (which can be purchased via Lulu and Amazon).

**Peter Baltensperger's Fugue for Numerous Violins was published in Black Heart Magazine

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced this site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: Fugue for Numerous Violins, in Black Heart Magazine.

Fugue details a late autumn, perhaps winter, day in a busy, windy park.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Book review: Inside from the Outside: A Journey in Sudden Fiction, by Peter Baltensperger

(pb; 2013: microstory anthology)


From the back cover:

"Dealing with the basic elements that make us human, the short stories contained in Inside from the Outside represent explorations of various aspects of human nature in all its complexity and variety.  Author Peter Baltensperger has incorporated elements of experimental, surrealistic, and bizarre short fiction in the development of his themes."


Overall review:

Inside is not an anthology for mainstream genre readers looking for easy and obvious thrills; such readers may be disappointed  - underwhelmed or overwhelmed - by the sixty-four stand-alone, cerebral and symbol-laden vignettes and microstories in this collection.  The reason for this is that Baltensperger favors a psychologically-intense approach that loosely links these elements: the works Carl Jung and Sǿren Kierkegaard; nature appreciation; mirrors; circuses and parades; romance and sexuality; and (often) quiet reflective realizations.  

Normally, I wouldn't read such work - I'm largely a fiction-genre (crime, horror, etc.) junkie.  But Baltensperger's intriguing word pairings, his sublime and often poetic language and images, and skillful juggling of the aforementioned themes made Inside a wow-worthy anthology that stands out from others' mood-linked volumes that strive for such sublimations/realizations, but so often fall short.

Of course, not every piece in this sixty-four tale book completely thrilled me - a relative few felt superfluous, due to their too-similar elements which did little or nothing to further the concepts and emotions of preceding tales.  The occasional "lapse" tale is a given, of course (at least for this reader), in a collection with this many pieces, so it's a minor nit at worst.

Beyond that inevitable complaint, I found something - a character, a mating of choice words, an image - to enjoy in almost all of the mood stories represented here.  I should also note that this is a slow burn, read-a-few-tales-a-day work, a compilation to be read, analyzed and savored over a prolonged period of time.  (It took me two months to read this - a worthwhile endeavor, in my estimation.)

Worth owning, this - if you're looking for a romantic, cerebral and mood-suffusive anthology.


Standout stories:

1.)  "Through Disarticulations": Surreal, beautiful and romantic nature- and music-based piece.  Excellent.


2.)  "Snippets in a Hot Afternoon":  I especially enjoyed the effective, full-circle finish of this microstory.


3.)  "Equine Afternoons":  Dream-like microtale about a "woman with beautiful breasts", horses and squirrels.


4.)  "Dilemma for Rain":  Especially striking imagery in this one (e.g., "a herd of snails").


5.)  "Fusions and Diffusions":  A woman and an artist hook up.  Romantic, effective - I love the line: "Hunter took her to his apartment and painted a fragmented sentence for her, flashing colors splashed over a large canvass. . ."


6.)  "Under Uncertain Skies":  A storm brings together two carnival performers (a wolfman and a bearded lady).  Sweet work.


7.)  "Blind Eyes in a Dark Jungle":  Timely vignette about a shopping mall-traumatized woman.


8.)  "Rain Games":  Two temperamentally different brothers attend a party.  Effective, stripped-down tale of familial vengeance, in its various forms.


9.)  "By Fractured Continuations":  Effective mood piece about a woman wrestling with her sense of time and being.


10.)  "Whispers from the Rain":  Nighttime precipitation holds a special allure for a curious woman.  Sweet-toned offering.


11.)  "Spring Thaw":  Wintry thoughts negate a possible love match.


12.)  "Points of Diffusion":  A couple come together between corporate meetings and a placid lakeside.


13.)  "What Is and Can Be":  A man and woman conquer winter and  a mountain.


14.)  "For a Crescendo":  Music, insects and desire bring lovers together.


15.)  "Anatomy of a Treadmill Runner":  A runner goes through his circular routines.  The story structure reflects this.


16.)  "Inside a Puzzle":  An artist struggles to hold onto joyous moments.


17.)  "Parenthesis for a Liberation":  I love the images of this microtale, in which a fanciful woman exercises while her thoughts may or may not run wild.


18.)  "Tremolando for Rain":  Two lovers meet and celebrate during a rainstorm.  One of my favorite works in this collection.


19.)  "Performance Art in a Meadow":  A circus troupe perform and live their oddly relatable lives on a rainy day.


20.)  "Through Viscous Hours":  Gregory Bergman, a night-restless man, encounters a personalized source of terror while walking his dog.


21.)  "Going By Rivers":  Two lovers join each other on a river.  Romantic-effective work.


22.)  "Notes on a Journey":  A man revisits his hometown. Effective dovetail finish to this one.


23.)  "Dilemmas of Empty Spaces":  A woman ponders her strange sense of fulfillment, while nature works its own animalistic magic.