Joe Kraus, who teaches creative nonfiction writing as part of the creative writing faculty, has just published a prose poem/flash fiction piece called “Three Stories about My Body” in Flare, the literary journal of Flagler College.
The piece begins:
We were walking through the arboretum when a chunk of my tongue fell off. The surgeon had warned me to expect it, and he assured me it was part of the healing, but he hadn’t said what I should do with the flesh. It felt like the butt of a chewed cigar, wet and the size of the last knuckle on my thumb. I cupped it in my palm for a few minutes, unsure how I would explain if any of the others noticed.
When I had a moment, I slipped it into the pond by the side of the willow. It sank and then, when it reached a foot below the surface, it began to shimmy, turned on its side, and seemed suddenly a fish. I watched until it swam beneath the foot bridge we were about to cross.
You can read it in full at http://issuu.com/bthompson73/docs/flare_the_flagler_review_spring_201/c/su3mdtn
This is awesome Dr. Kraus. Way to bring it home for the Scranton English.
Thanks, Harry. I appreciate the thumbs up.
— Joe