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Breath & Shadow

Fall 2022 - Vol. 19, Issue 4

"Bells"

written by

Brooke Brannon

Smile like a sine wave

My face, half haunted

They call it a palsy but it’s not

It is

My mother’s face each morning when she sees I have not improved

My partner talking like a pirate

Three eyepatches on my nightstand

Drops gels ointments 

Terror of blindness

Out to dinner, waitresses avoid my face


Mom was right

My face did freeze that way

Brooke Brannon is an American who lives and works in England. Her fiction appears in The Disappointed Housewife, Tales to Terrify, and aHa magazine. One of her short stories, "Why I'm Angry," was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021.

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