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Crossing

Story by Alice Mercier (Read author interview) March 19, 2018

Art by SmokeLong Quarterly

Feathers in the road look only like feathers at first, and then like birds, and finally like two geese killed crossing together. But their bodies are not yet held—there is something still animate about the way their wings stick out at angles and keep catching the air. As though they’ve hit the ground but are still falling. Like violence unfinished.

About the Author

Alice Mercier worked as an assistant archivist in London before moving to the U.S. She writes and illustrates short fiction, and is currently a student in the creative writing program at Cornell University.

This story appeared in Issue Fifty-Nine of SmokeLong Quarterly.
SmokeLong Quarterly Issue Fifty-Nine
ornament

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