I live in parallel universes. While I brush my teeth, I dance in Rio. While I do schoolwork, I have a tryst. While I drink a latté, I am murdered in my sleep.

I recently caved to peer pressure and signed up for a Twitter account.  I tried to think of some purpose for it rather than random blathering.  I’ve always loved sudden fiction, and flash fiction (there was briefly a magazine called Paragraph that had complete stories in one paragraph).  That brevity fascinates me.  I’d like to take that mini fiction one step further and create short fiction in 144 characters, which is the Twitter limit.  I think of it as almost like haiku without the stylistic limitations.

Here is my challenge to you.  I know that there are a lot of creative people out there.  Send me some Twitter flash fiction.  Either send it through my Twitter account (sallybosco), or post it here.  I’ll collect them and periodically post them.  Maybe if we get enough, we can make a chapbook.  Here are some of mine:

I turned to face my nightmare ghost head on.  But lo and behold, the ghost was me.

Hooker nuns from outer space give comfort to the passing galaxy jockeys. They are the Sisters of Mercy.

I glide through the night, an April witch.  Free flight program.

We read Ulysses every Sunday in the park while we picnic. We break up before Molly Bloom has a chance to say, “Yes I said yes I will Yes.”

2012:  I look to see nothing.  The remote viewers were right.

A millimeter at a time the exoskeleton on my body thickened until each twitch cracked.  My husk formed when the blaze startled me awake.

A dancer, I sailed with Nijinsky on a ship destined for America. So excited! But I died, had a burial at sea, and floated down down. Cold dark alone.

She rode in the convertible with a too-long scarf like Isadora Duncan.

She struggled to find her way out of Custo Barcelona.  She was LOST AT THE MALL.

My cat dines alfresco on sampler platter: ahi tuna, tulapia, rice with a side of treats. Don’t forget the spring water. He has me trained.

That’s all for now.  Leave a post telling me what you think.

Sally

This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2009.