MJ McGinn π
a recipe for falling asleep without thinking about your ex-girlfriend
After the recipe writing challenge.
Ingredients: dreams (stubborn
things with soft teeth)
self-loathing (all the hair you’ve lost since
you last kissed will do in a pinch)
peach pits (to remember
where you came from)
Step one: write her name in the air
with your finger little
hearts above little eyes
Step two: set something meaningful on fire, stir regularly
Step three: dance with your comforter like it’s trying to drown you
Step four: keep dancing until you reach a boil, you’ll notice
bubbles and salt spilling from your wounds (if you don’t
notice this, increase the temperature)
Step five: do not go looking
through the shoebox in your closet, forget-me-nots live there
and they’re hungry
Step six: close your eyes, you can’t
smell smoke, there’s no one
else here, you’re alive
Author Reading
About the Author
M. J. McGinn received his MFA from Adelphi University and was a VCCA resident in 2019. His work has been named to the Wigleaf 50 best very short stories of 2017 and has previously appeared in the Guernica/PEN flash series, New Flash Fiction Review, Lost Balloon, Bridge Eight, and elsewhere. He lives in Philadelphia.