Programming cultural DNA The troglodyte tree emerged from its cave exactly when three lights lit the evening sky on the New Moon that fell before the birth-month of mother owl. Just a hatchling of course, in her first month, and a growth to maturity away from motherhood—but she […]
Why she was late for dinner… A bag falls to the sidewalk, glass shatters, wine spills—a ghost woke and walked by her, a forgotten moment now scented by shiraz evaporating on hot cement. These days she simply shrugs off such occurrences—hidden minutes pour out along her path wherever […]
It wasn’t the sharks I lost myself, drowning in waves of sunshine and fear. During stormy weather and when it was clear, I dove underwater to stay out of sight—that is, until sharks came that one lonely night. They struck at my legs and I knew […]
The following flash fiction responds to a prompt (the photo above) from the Short Story and Flash Fiction Society, for their second flash fiction contest; the story is 392 words, not counting the title (or this blog-post introduction). Moshe is our son’s name, he is three (almost four), and […]
In Tzfat this Evening The Klezmer festival music plays on and the fireworks blast into the sky exactly on time at ten, brilliant and loud. But the ceasefire broke apart before then, hours before—and Code Red sirens blasted in the South, in Tel Aviv, in Jerusalem, shortly after […]
As the War Continues i That war in the little southwest strip, its violence drowns out all sounds— words drain of meaning and become white spaces against blood-red paper. The numbers rise up, a large pile of bodies reaching toward the sun to ignite and burn, a pyre […]
A bit over a week ago we visited the Jerusalem Zoo. In the children’s area, goats and roosters run loose. Other animals stay in pens nearby, and both the goats and roosters can escape into the pens. It’s all made of wood with a very distinct ranch feeling. […]
The complex sea, this week’s photo challenge, cannot be captured in one image or a dozen, nor 12,000 words if a picture is worth a thousand words. Here, I present nine images, all but one from along the Mediterranean coast of Israel. The first photo is from Croatia, […]
Up against the wall, …sits odd statuary, sullen sadness created by hand from nothing more or less than general failures that anyone might turn away from on some given day: A house taken by bankers who would not settle for anything less from two buyers, work taken by […]
Foreshadow: There is a Crack in Everything I’m trying the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge for the first time. The theme for this week is foreshadow. As the guidelines provide a broad definition, I’ve played with the theme in different ways for the photos I’m posting here. As I […]
Day three of Flash Fiction Pride Month, and here is my third bit of flash. This one is on the long side of the range, I suppose, coming in now at around 900 words. Still, it’s that sudden flash feeling. At least, I hope so. Enjoy. Please read, […]
This is the fifth experiment in this series. Each experiment includes words suggested by others, which I string together in some hybrid of Dada found object (the suggested words and the links I find later by Googling words and phrases) and surrealist automatic writing, with a definite nod […]
May is Short Story month. So, below, my fifth post in something maybe like fiction. I don’t know quite what this is, I think flash (fiction? experimental writing?). This is new work for me (other than the first paragraph of the first one, Tomorrow, which was a response to a prompt […]
Dan Wicket has posted on FaceBook that May is Short Story month. The Emerging Writers Network is onboard, not surprising as that’s Dan’s project, too. I saw that the Pen/Faulkner Foundation also posted something about it, a cartoon. And it has its own Twitter hash tag. Must be official. So, below, my fourth post in […]
This is another post in a series for Short Story Month 2013. The bearded woman continues. This is new work for me (other than the first paragraph of the first one, Tomorrow, which was a response to a prompt from Meg Pokras on FaceBook. (Her micro-fiction is amazing, […]
I recently did some poetry workshops at The Jerusalem School of Beit Hanina, in East Jerusalem. The school’s motto is “Peace begins with me,” and my workshops coincided with Peace Days at the school. For that occasion, I wrote this poem, which I’m posting now on the last […]
For April, two poems published four years ago in a small anthology. Are poems like omelets? What is inspiration? A r s p o e t i c a Water drops in hot oil disappear instantaneously like meaning in conversation between two who do not speak. Steam […]
Nothing Remembers
by Michael Dickel
At Indie Booksotres
The Palm Reading after The Toad's Garden
by Michael Dickel
At Indie Bookstores
War Surrounds Us
by Michael Dickel
At Independent Bookstores
Midwest / Mid-East
by Michael Dickel
At Indie Bookstores
