#The Anchored World; by Jasmine Sawers

[augment-techs]

The Anchored World: Flash Fairy Tales and Folklore sentence starters

still life with conch shell

"I demand a son and you can't even give me a baby?"

He set his nose against my cheek and trembled to breathe me in.

Once Upon a Time in an Orchard

"Every apple is poisoned here."

Before she breaks the skin with her teeth, she'll thank you.

"You have never caught a rat in your life."

A Girl/A Witch/A Crone

They shuck the animal hide; drip blood on the floor.

"I know I've caused this chaos...I have to go home."

"Who sells chicken eggs?"

"Remember, the big monster always gets the little monster."

"There is weeping under the soil."

"If you wait an hour, there will be bread fresh out of the oven."

Pie is complicated. Finicky.

For weeks after the accident, the house smelled like burnt bacon.

"How I fit into convenient shirt pockets."

"How I bite, just a little."

How filthy the floor of the cage.

"It is better if I am housed by myself."

With appetite.

'Your Colors are Not Your Destiny.'

Today, the kitchen overflows with mangkut.

"I'd rather you ask than stare so."

This crude stitching--deerskin leather cord, a rush job, the closest thing to hand at the time.

"What's so goddamn interesting out that window?"

The tub would be a cliché, but why not?

Can't do this one on a whim.

Buy the most expensive hundred proof at the liquor store--something classy.

Marry a cruel man.

"They do get more insistent in the summer months."

"I am just an animal, small and soft and afraid."

"My princess bruises when I touch her."

"How can I fault them, even when my flesh heats and there is no satiation to be had?"

Remove the nails and pull the boards away.

There's a $45 dollar lipstick called Heart's Blood.

"It wouldn't take long. I wouldn't even have to hold it down."

"You can always try again."

Bunches of mulberries and gooseberries and blackcurrants, baskets full of apples, sweet lush oranges from the garden.

The shrieks of suckling pigs at slaughter.

"But you can't forget: they're not your friends. Not really."

They took off their clothes and wandered out into the yard.

"You'll die gradually."

"You'll stop being able to see colors, food won't taste like anything; you'll be tired all the time."

"Condensation and rainwater never hurt anyone."

"Wait, won't you be cold?"

Soldiers sway to the music.

Bloodberries.

"Eat this and feel pain no longer."

Domestic curses for all Occasions.

"I think something's wrong."

"Look, you can't go big with a curse."

One can't discount the impact of going small.

"Don't be fucking crass."

"You won't be able to escape the clutter."

They can't sleep unless they can hear snoring beside them.

"There must be something essentially wrong deep inside me."

"Who is it that's worth your heart?"

Jewels and gold, flour and sugar, spices and eggs.

Rabbit bones and ginger.

"Universal human failings. That, I can work with."