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Stories

Kharkiv

Six Words: Squeeze, Judge, Jelly, Tin, Quiet, Passage

In a basement in Kharkiv, a boy looked around, trying to judge whether he could move outdoors to pee. Then, quietly, he squeezed through the passage between sheets of tin that had once been a fence. In his pocket, a tin of sardines and a packet of jelly. Once, not long ago, he had more. Once, not long ago, he had parents.

The Experiment

Six Words: Tempt. Experiment, Club, Channel, Forward, Scramble

A mad scramble,
The fish in the channel,
Always going forward,
Their annual attempt
To return to their breeding ground,
Like a soccer club or rugby club,
Goal seeking, rarely achieving.
While the game wardens
and dam builders
Watched to see –
would they survive.