NathanAnthonyBarstad

Category: Prose

  • untitled 12

    Every sane individual must ask themselves the question: am I insane? To fail to account for one’s sanity is to assume it, and to assume it, only leads to making out that one may be sane, when, in fact, one is not, or vice versa. To be sure, there are degrees of sanity, one may…

  • untitled 11

    It was the sixth commandment–Thou shalt not kill–that really got him. He knew that murder was wrong in any world, but killing? What if the ends justified the means? What if he were in war? Or in some sort of combat, or defending himself–or others? The taste for blood was not something that he had;…

  • untitled 10

    There was nothing left to be said, so she simply stood there. “Well? Aren’t you going to say something?” Her mother was livid. Pregnancy wasn’t something her mother took to kindly, seeing as she had experienced nothing but heartache from her own pregnancy. Her boyfriend had left her early on, when he’d found out she…

  • untitled 9

    His mind was on fire. The words ignited a burning flame that spread over his brain like an inferno, setting his soul aflame with words blazing so hot that he could hardly handle them. All he knew was that word after word burned a pathway through his brain as his mind took up each image…

  • untitled 8

    You was the only one I’d-a ever knowed befo’, and you was the only one that ever made me feels like I was a somebody. I cain’t think of anybodies who ever made me thought I could do anything worth it. I was always caught up in a-doin’ what I was thinking they’d-a have me…

  • untitled 7

    The day had begun like any other with the sun hung in the sky like the gold medallion of an Olympic medalist. She was still in bed, laying there like a bump on a log, not so much because she literally was a bump on a log but because the author of the story thought…

  • untitled 6

    I was in the throes of despair, having had hardly any return on my educational investment: a four-year degree amounted to a piece of paper not worthy of wiping the shit off my ass. Thousands of dollars wasted, down the drain. Years of my life never to be recouped. Memories I couldn’t remember because I…

  • untitled 5

    “You should never write about yourself.” “You should publish on only these three platforms.” “Your writing is not about you.” “You need to publish once a day.” “You shouldn’t publish every day.” “You should not try to make money from writing.” “If you want to make money from writing, try these tried and true tips.”…

  • untitled 4

    Never wanted to come here. Never knew I’d end up here. But always knew I didn’t want to be here, even before I got myself here. And now there’s no way out. I’m about as stuck as a light pole grafted into a tree, its thick flesh of bark wrapping around the cold, iron rod…

  • untitled 3

    Some might call it premonition. Others, foresight. Still, others might call it a miraculous blessing. I call it a curse. What came over me, I do not know, except that I had been sleeping, only to be awakened by some homeless man, ratty and ragged, rummaging through my coat pockets. I had been very tired,…