Issue 10
flash creative nonfiction
“Eyes”
by Kim Steutermann Rogers
“Edgelands Ebb Tide” by Rich Spang
The young deer nibbles alongside a curvy two-lane road, the sun filtering through a dense tunnel of trees still leaved in green, and I see her narrow head pop up, her jaw go still, her eyes shiny and round, and maybe I’m driving a little too fast, maybe I’m rushing to get to my father as I hit the brakes, hoping, praying, whispering, “Please don’t, please don’t,” the car’s tires threatening to squeal, to startle, my mind focusing on her brown eyes, my mind remembering the way Dad, in a moment of lucidity as he was wheeled into the hospital, looked at me and winked, his right eyelid slowly closing and opening, letting me know all would be okay, and my mind thinking, this is where Dad always cautions, “Drive slow, there might be deer,” and, of course, there never were as long as he was in the passenger seat beside me, but now he’s in hospice and I’m alone and driving too fast and there’s a deer, an innocent deer right there, right beside the road, peering right through the windshield at me, and I see a flicker in her eye.
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Kim Steutermann Rogers spent a month in Alaska as a fellow at Storyknife Writers Retreat in 2016 and, again, in 2021. Her essay “Following the Albatross Home” was recognized as “Notable Travel Writing 2019” in Best American Travel Writing. Her science journalism has been published in National Geographic, Audubon, and Smithsonian, her prose in Five South, Atticus Review, Bending Genres, CHEAP POP, Hippocampus, and elsewhere. She lives with her husband and 15-year-old poi dog named Lulu in Hawaii. Read more of her work at kimsrogers.com and follow her on social media at @kimsrogers.
Rich Spang came to photography at a very young age, first as a model along with his sister in front of his father's Rolleiflex. Next came the Brown, the Instamatic, and a series of 35mm cameras. Now retired, Rich still shoots film as well as digital. He can be found on the streets, the shores, in the trees, and the fog, where he is most alive.